Hyperdimension Ranma
by Aeoden
Summary: Nepgear ended up going the conquest route and things went bad. Histoire is spared the destruction of Gamindustri and comes up with a plan to save it via one Ranma Saotome. And our protagonist is probably not happy about not having a choice in the matter.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Neptunia and Ranma belong to their respective owners which is not me, 'nough said.

AN: currently not planned to be a harem fic and have no particular pairing in mind. Also if I screwed up some facts, I will just say that in my defense, I have not read Ranma 1/2 in a while and I've only played 1, MK II, V, PP, RE 1. Sadly my vita and all its games were stolen before I could play the other games on it. Sucks to be me sometimes. Also before I forget, gender pronouns will be confused a little as they are based on perception (no I do not mean that Ranma thinks of himself as a girl so much as it's written that way to signify Ranma knows what form he's in). Anyways, on with the story!

AN 2: Hi guys, and so starts my round of revisions. My apologies for the idiot scene involving Akane. It's still there but should seem a little less of a bash fest... Sorry if typos are still there, these are more about fixing certain story elements. Fun facts about this chapter:

1\. I had a lot of trouble getting the first chapter good enough to post.

2\. It actually took me some time to do because I ended up getting frustrated and starting over again and again.

3\. This chapter is the result of me saying screw it and frankensteining the acceptable parts from the older versions and patching it up.

4\. The dreaded Akane scene is a mystery to me. As for what happened there, I grabbed it for this because I recalled it was the longest scene for the section and did not think to check it since every version of that scene should have had no impact on cohesion... Then I saw the reviews, looked it up and went WTF. I think I might have written that while not in the right frame of mind all things considering... and no, this is not an excuse for me being an idiot. I was an idiot about that scene on all accounts in regards to my handling of Akane.

5\. As for why I stitched it together, I have a bad case of ADD and really want to write this story. As such anytime I get too frustrated, I run the risk of horribly delaying things into oblivion. Therefore I have been doing everything I can to fight this off. Truth is I can actually write these chapters fairly quickly so long as I enjoy it. I look forward to getting back to continuing the story after these revisions!

* * *

Prologue-

The world was falling apart. It was finally going to end just as Arfoire foresaw back at that time. As Nepgear looked to the red, lightning streaked skies, she remembered the last time she had truly been happy. Back then, she had been so happy to free her sister and the others. She was naïve to have believed their rescue would solve everything. Her sister, even now stood in her memories as the kind of person who could solve any problem in the happiest way possible. Instead Neptune had chosen to let her continue to lead and make the choices in their last adventure. In the end Neptune had chosen to pass on herself with the others. She was not worthy of being the one to lead Gamindustri. Nepgear only need look to the skies as her world fell apart. She was alone say for her oracle. The others had died off fighting in this wretched war. She finally took her eyes away from the blood red skies to look at the hellish landscape about her. Corpses were strewn about everywhere of the soldiers who had foolishly waged this battle even as it was all coming to an end. The world would not live on nor would she. While it was possible to go to another dimension, she only had enough power for one person. She refused to save herself unless she further soil the memories of the others who had died. _I am truly sorry everyone. I tried so hard to preserve this world to make your sacrifices have meaning, but in the end not even a memory of this will remain._

"Nepgear, please do not blame yourself. No one knew that things would come to us. None of us, not even Neptune, could have foreseen this," Histoire tried to soothe her goddess as she floated into view before her. It was then that Nepgear realized that there was a way for their world in its entirety to live on if only as a memory. She smiled warmly at Histoire as tears continued to fall.

"Thank you Histoire," She began. The tome smiled but was then surprised by what her ruler said next," I now know of the last thing I can do to save Gamindustri. I can save you Histoire. You are the tome that holds the memories of everything that this world is and once was."

Realization was dawning on the tome of what Nepgear was planning for her but- ," Please don't do it Nepgear! I wish to join you and the others-" She pleaded desperately with fear and sadness etched into her features. She was cut off by the steely look in the goddess's eyes. Nepgear slowly shook her head while hold her in that commanding glare

"No, I am sorry, but this is the only thing I can do to uphold my promise to the others. This is my final command as a goddess Histoire. I order you to live on, to preserve the memories of Gamindustri, and in time to share it with others when you are ready," Nepgear ordered in a soft but powerful voice. As she finished, she brought up her free hand as she transformed. Her other hand grasped the now glowing Gehaburn. As she brought forth her power to send the tome off, Histoire thought she saw the ghostly visages of the other goddesses who had passed on so long ago. Each one wore a sad smile except for her former CPU. Neptune silently mouthed something. _Live on Histy, I_ _'_ _m sure you can find someway to save us!_ The last thing Histoire would remember seeing of her world is the ghostly Neptune's cheerful smile. After that, all faded to white.

* * *

Exactly three millennia have past since then and Histoire still lived on to fulfill her final orders. In her time on this strange world now known as Earth, she has bore witness to many things. The most notable was the rise of humanity as it shaped itself into a modern world. This world, even now, lagged far behind her long gone world in technology. Sadly, this world even now did little prove itself worthy of the knowledge she contained. Humanity in this world had proven itself truly a barbaric and untrustworthy sort. Even this more civilized age she watched over was riddled with war.

One thing that had come to her as a surprise was that in spite of its technological inferiority, its people had created a number of things had not existed in her own. One of these things was the creation of a mirror that actually held power over time and space. She could not believe her good fortune to have discovered something like. In fact, it was this discovery that had given the forlorn tome hope. Neptune was truly an amazing goddess. Even when all was hopeless and she was long dead, she still was able to predict this. That smile of hers that was so different from the others' at that time. Upon this one discovery, Histoire looked back upon it and realized why it was she would always serve Neptune. The often lazy goddess could always find hope even in the most hopeless circumstance, and just like all those times before, she had been right to hope. Histoire now held the power to send someone to her world to save it.

Sadly, that was what her currently roadblock to fulfilling Neptune's wish was. She could not go back herself. To undo the past in the world she came from would only create a paradox that in the end would hold no meaning. The fact was that once the timeline of a world was changed all things from the unchanged timeline disappeared. However, the advantage of this phenomenon was that this did not extend to other dimensions. What this meant was that even once she vanished with the old timeline, this dimension's timeline would be unaffected and still record the fact she existed up to the point she enacted the change. To put it simply, she needed someone from this world for her plan to work. Now was the _"_ _FUN_ _"_ part… She had to find someone with a good heart and the potential to change her world for the better.

As she pondered this ordeal, it happened. Chaos was born unto this world like none other. It was unlike anything she had ever sensed before. She did not know where it was or even who. All she knew was that, if whoever was born with this much of it lived long enough, they would truly hold the potential she needs. As such, she began her journal to find the source of it.

It had taken three years to find the child. She had watched him from afar since. What she saw brought tears to her eyes as she watched the madness of this one's life. His parents were certifiably insane. What mother accepts a seppuku contract with their child's playful handprint on it? What kind of father not only takes a child from their mother but does so for the sake of training them in such a tortuous fashion? Histoire could not believe what she saw this child go through, yet the boy never lost the goodness of his heart. She bore witness to the training that took up so much of the child's life. She watched in disbelief as his father constantly bartered him off. Through all of this she had to restrain herself from interfering unless she ruins the very potential the child obviously held to save her world. _All I can do is offer to him a new life in a far better world._ She would think to herself every time she had the urge to interfere. She bore witness to the curse and the madhouse that was Nerima. Even then she did not interfere for he was not ready still. She watched as the boy proved himself a champion as he persevered to defeat his foes and would always win in the end. Finally she bore witness to the moment her champion had actually killed the immortal phoenix "god king". It was at that time she became torn on what to do as Ranma confessed to Akane. She did not have the ability to send both of them and after all of this she did not wish to take Ranma away now. She continued to watch as she struggled with this decision.

* * *

For anyone else this would have been a joyous occasion, but it was not so for one Ranma Saotome. It was to be his wedding day to the fiancé whom he had fought so hard to save and protect. He had even just killed a god in fact. It was not that he did not have feelings for the girl, oh no, he knew he cared deeply for Akane when he thought he had lost her. Maybe it had a little to do with the fact their parents had not even asked but had literally forced him to the altar, or it was the fact that even Akane had kept it a secret that her father had a cask containing the last bit of nannichuan water in the world at this moment. If not that, then most definitely the fact that Nabiki had taken it upon herself to invite everyone including Ranma's other fiancés and rivals. If anything its was the a fact that a huge fight broke out between Ranma, his father, and fellow cursed rivals over the cask containing that last possible cure for their curse. It was definitely the fact the grandmaster of his school of martial arts drank the entire cask thinking it was wedding sake and thus robbing him of a cure once again. Or the fact Tatewaki Kuno brought a steel katana to attack him with to stop him from marrying "his precious" Akane. Then again it kid be all of this and more as currently the fiancés had joined in on the act. Seriously, this had to be the worst day of Ranma's life and right on the heels of his most dangerous adventure to date.

As Ranma was contemplating this in the midst of the chaos, he had failed to realize he had been drenched once again and that Kuno was in fact hugging/molesting her as per usual when he manages to get a hold of "his pig-tailed goddess". Normally this would not have been a problem as Ranma was about to in fact knock his lights out and send him flying. However, Akane had gotten her attention at this moment when she approached. She looked a bit worse for wear as her wedding dress had many tears and cuts in it. Her dark blue, nearly black hair was mussed up and in disarray from fighting. She was sporting a few cuts and bruises herself from this debacle. However, what had Ranma's attention and even caused the ever insane Kuno to actually back off in fear was her face. She had tears in her glaring and now glowing red eyes. In fact her whole face was turning red as it contorted into an expression of absolute rage. She was even surrounded in a blazing aura anger induced ki.

"This was supposed to be the happiest day of our lives Ranma," She spoke coldly as she approached, freezing Ranma in place and sending chills down her spine. This was a new level for Akane's anger," And after everything we've been through together, I have to get attacked by your floozies and watch everything I had hoped for this day be ruined by everyone's antics?"

"A-Akane, you got it a-" tried to verbally defend herself as she was in too much shock at Akane's expression as the tears began to roll down her cheeks to prepare to do so physically.

"RANMA YOU JERK!" was the last thing she heard before suddenly finding herself being sent flying by her fiancés rage induced upper. As the pigtailed martial artist sailed through sky higher than ever before, a mysterious figure whom sat upon a floating tome smiled sadly.

* * *

Histoire could not believe what she had witnessed at the wedding. She should have known better than to believe that Ranma would have a happy ending here amidst this mess. What hurt the most was watching the woman that the now girl loved attack her so. Histoire was truly saddened by the outcome of her moment of indecision. She could have spared Ranma from this wedding if she had acted sooner. However she knew that it was finally time for her to act. It was time for her to take Ranma away from this world for good. And so it was with a sad smile that she began to glow and invoke the spell she had created all those years before.

"Please forgive me for what is to come, but you are needed to stop a great tragedy from befalling my world," she whispered quietly as she opened a gateway to her world at a critical moment when it existed. As the flying girl vanished through it, so did the gate. And if one were to look upon the face of the fairy like girl they would see tears flowing freely upon her smiling face. Then she began to simply fade away.

"Please save them all and I wish you to find true happiness"

* * *

 _Okay, that was_ _weird_ _._ Ranma thought to himself as he continued to sail of the now completely unfamiliar landscape below. He was flying like normal after one of Akane's attacks. Then it all went weird when he saw the fairy on the book casting a spell and asking Ranma to save some people. _Yeah, real nice way to ask._ He was not very pleased about the fact he had no choice in the matter or the fact he did not know what he was expected to do. As he looked down he saw a city of black factories and such. As he looked down he got a bearing for where his landing point was going to be. A group of girls had been fighting and were now pleading and arguing with one another. Then there seemed to be a struggle over the sword the winning side had brought along. It was obvious what older girl with black hair intended to do. It was at the moment Ranma realized his landing point.

"Move it ya crazy chicks!"

* * *

 _Why did it have to come to this? After everything we_ _'_ _ve been through, here we are fighting and now Noire hold the Gehaburn. I never wanted anyone to die!_

"Please Noire, there has to be another way! I don't want anyone to die!" Nepgear cried out as she struggled with Noire over the Gehaburn," This is wrong!"

"No Nepgear, there is no other way. None of the others are going to willingly hand of their shares to you. This sword is the only way!" Noire choked out desperately as she finally took the blade and was about to run herself through-

"Move it ya crazy chicks!"

*CRASH*

Nepgear was sent tumbling back with the force of the impact. As she recovered to see what had happened, she looked on in shock with everyone else present at the downed Noire in the center of a large crater with a short and busty girl wearing a ragged, white tuxedo standing on her back. The red haired girl looked down at the downed Noire before stepping off of her to pick something up that laid close by. The new girl now held Gehaburn in her hands. She then made eye contact with everyone here before angrily bringing the sword up.

"No, NOIRE!" Uni cried out desperately as the pigtailed girl thrust downward. All was silent as looked at the blade now thrust into the ground before Noire's terrified face.

"I don't know or even care what the hell is happening 'round here but I'm not gonna stand by and watch ya all go around getting' yourselves killed over a sword," She yelled angrily as a shatter sounded greeted the ears of everyone present. She had just shattered their last option. Nepgear sighed in relief at the sight. It had to have been one of the most beautiful sights she has seen of late, next to the one of finally seeing her sister free that is. Noire took a moment to recover as she slowly regained composure and glared angrily at the newcomer.

"What have you done!? Now all of Gamindustri is doomed. That sword was our last hope to defeat Asic before they destroyed!" She screamed," And now we goddesses can't even sacrifice our lives to it to save our world!"

Ranma was taken back by that last statement for a second before he looked at the weapon once more and gave a snort. The thing had no power in it to start with. Sure, it might gain the power of those it kills, but if that's the case, the real answer is for everyone to work together in the first place. The shear idiocy of what he was hearing was on par with something his pops would say. Shortcuts and the easy way out could only lead to disaster. That had been a lesson etched into him from his last 17 years of life.

"Ok, let's say I believed this thing had that kind of power in the first place. That by killing someone with this stupid sword it would grow in power. Now here's the hole in your stupid plan that I know from experience," He sneered at the woman in black as he answered her," Free power ups always come with a catch. In fact I wouldn't be shocked to find that this weapon woulda only been as powerful as the ones you killed to begin with," as he went on, he could see that the twin tail girl before him was starting to see where this was going," So if that's the case, then why not just work together?"

Let it be known that Ranma is not an idiot. While it is true that he is ignorant, it is also true that Ranma had been able to get his grades up to high school standards in spite of lacking proper education and the madness that is his life.

* * *

Noire was stunned. That one fact had eluded them all. How could she have missed something so simple? The sword was a trap. The weapon would only have the power they had. Then something else dawned on her. She had just nearly gotten both herself and Uni killed for no reason. Bitter tears filled her eyes as she collapsed to her knees. Everything was pointless. As far as they could tell, they lacked the power for certain victory. They had no hope and now they were fighting amongst themselves once again.

"Sister!" cried out a familiar voice before Uni embraced her. She could feel the hot tears on the back of her shoulder. Her younger sister continued to cry into her shoulder she kept mumbling softly. It had been clear she had failed as a big sister. As they were having their moment, a clearing of someone's throat drew the attention of those present. It was Neptune walking toward them in her usual cheerful and bubbly manner.

* * *

"Hi there, and thanks for the save. It was looking like things were going emo-ville fast Highlander style, if ya know what I mean. Anyways, I'm Neptune, the CPU of Planeptune!" a strange young girl in a hoodie and sporting short, purple hair greeted as she walked toward Ranma and the two sisters. Ranma honestly had a confused look on his face as he had no idea at all what the girl meant by that," Anyways, who are you? Are you like some savior descending from the heavens to thwart Asic for us or something?"

Ranma just blinked at the ever cheerful Neptune for a moment before shaking his to recollect himself before introducing himself," The name's Ranma Saotome, heir to the Anything Goes school of martial arts, sorry 'bout this," He finished sheepishly as he scratched the base of his pigtail. The girl just looked him up and down a bit as if trying to figure something out before slamming a fist down into her open hand as she was finally putting something together.

"Oh, I get it. You're like one of those only child girl martial arts characters that were raised as a son to pass on their family's obscure school," She explained," I mean I was wondering about your use of masculine words, but then I finally got it at the use of heir instead of heiress. I think we were missing one of those. Now we finally have a gender confused martial artist on the team!"

The girl was talking a mile a minute in an oddly excited fashion. _What the hell? Why is she talking like I_ _'_ _m some character outta manga?_ Ranma then FINALLY realized she had been a girl the whole time. Ranma then lowered her head and grumbled in annoyance about curses and water before responding," No, you got it wrong, but for now it'll have to wait seeing as there's no hot water handy and I have no idea where the hell I am," This seemed to prompt some stares from stares from the other girls that were gathering. It was then that Ranma noticed a girl wearing those hell spawned ears and tail," A-and y-you, STAY AWAY!" She shakenly spat out as she backed away from the small cat girl.

"Hey, Puchiko, I think she's afraid of you for some reason," Neptune commented to Puchiko's annoyance. However, the cat girl did catch the message and stayed back taking a place behind some of the others. Ranma was not sure, but she could have sworn she heard Puchiko angrily muttering something about vegetables. While strange, this was not weird enough for the martial artist to even care. After all now that the cat girl was out of sight, Ranma was only nervous about her presence and had more pressing things to attend to like finding out where the hell she was this time. Neptune nodded in satisfaction before turning to the sometimes girl," Well, I guess you not knowing where you are makes you one of those awesome heroes summoned from another world in a time of great need," she nodded sagely as if her statement made all the sense in the world.

"Will you stop it already you idiot! Not everything is a game!" the older of the sisters in black called out from beside Ranma," Aaanyways, I thank you f-for-" she stopped to take a deep breath," stopping me from doing something stupid," she exhaled before continuing," I am Noire, the CPU of Lastation, which is where you are."

"Never heard of it. Is it somewhere in the west?" Ranma replied thinking that she must now be somewhere in Europe or the Americas. Though if that was the case why were they all speaking Japanese so fluently? Noire looked a little confused now.

"How do you not know of Lastation one of the four nations of the WORLD of Gamindustri!?" She cried out in disbelief as she stood up in indignation much to the surprise of her younger sister. Neptune only tsked as she waved a finger in superiority.

"It's like I said, Noire. She's totally a hero from another world come to save us all from the evil clutches of Asic!" Neptune proclaimed once more with gusto before bringing her attention back to a still confused Ranma," And now that we got that out of the way, let's head off to Planetune's Basilicom to give Histy the good news!"

"Uh, before that, you guys mind telling me what the hell a CPU or Basil-whatever is?" Ranma asked in pure ignorance. She did not like the answers she got.

"Oh, well me and Noire are CPU's and a Basilicom is where CPU's live and lead their nation from. By the way our younger sisters are candidates which makes us all Goddesses, so yeah, that about covers it I think" Neptune explained happily," Now off to pud- I mean home!"

Ranma became visibly more nervous as she immediately backed away from the self proclaimed goddesses. While they acted nothing like that jerk Saffron so far, Ranma's trek record with gods has not been good thus far. Noire picked up on this reaction and became suspicious immediately," Hey, what's with that reaction? You got something against goddesses?!"

"Now, now Noire, let's not jump to conclusions. Right Nep Jr.?" Neptune soothed as she turn to an older looking purple haired girl that turned out to be her younger sister," I'm sure it's some sort of misunderstanding."

Nep Jr. nodded in agreement to her sister's words before adding," I-I don't think anyone that would that much about a stranger's life could be bad."

"See, even Jr, agrees with me," the smaller of the purple sisters chirped cheekily," Now what's the big deal?"

Ranma thought hard for once about what she was going to say for once. She did not want to upset four goddesses. Especially since now that she was paying attention, she was sensing large amounts of power hidden away within the four girls. After taking a gulp and a deep breath, she began," W-well. Ya see, I have something of a bad experience so far with gods. Not that I have anything against you girls or nothing, but I had a bit of a conflict with a god recently-"

"Hmmmph, if your so called god is anything like us, then I'm sure you started," The young sister in black interrupted.

"Shh, Uni, let's not start a fight until we know the whole story," Noire admonished Uni before returning her attention to Ranma once more. While she had stopped her sister for Ranma's sake, it was clear in her face that she shared a similar opinion. Letting out a sigh, Ranma began anew.

"I did not start it. First of all, the bastard sent out goons to capture a girl who was coming to me for help saving her home, where I might add was a cure to my curse, then when me and my… group left to stop him, he got Akane involved and through his arrogance had tried to sentence her to death for trying to help me. I did not start that mess, but I will admit I put an end to it," she finished in grave tones as she remembered the battle. She had a distant look in her eyes as she remembered the most difficult fight of her life.

"Wowza, you don't mean you actually ya know, killed him did you?" Neptune asked shocked. It was then that Ranma realized she had let herself get carried away by the moment and admitted to slaying Saffron. She took up a defensive stance while trying to figure out how to flee the scene. Knowing her luck, these goddesses were about to have some beef with her for killing one of their kind. Neptune seemed realize what was going on rushed in arms flailing," Woah now, let's not start any unnecessary fights here. Judging from what you said, this guy was a real jerk and got what's coming to him. I mean really? That guy was totally a villain from the sounds of it! Which makes you an awesome God Slaying Hero from another world, which incidentally is just what we need!"

Ranma eased her stance in utter confusion at the strange girl's rapid fire speech. Why did she keep comparing her to some hero from a manga? That whole description sounded like something she had over heard some of the others talk about at school. Seriously, was this pint sized goddess even right in the head? She then glanced at the others who all seemed to be accepting what this nut job was saying at face value. Even Noire and Uni were nodding in agreement if grudgingly so. At this the group started to gather up as if the conversation was over and a brown haired in an over-sized blue coat walked up to her.

"Come on, you'll get used to it, everyone else does. Not to mention Neptune has a tendency to be right about these things much to everyone's annoyance…"

What had Ranma gotten herself into?


	2. Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: Still thankful I don't own these as I love both series and have nothing against their respective owners. Though it would be cool to have a Ranma reboot... Oh well, I can dream, right?

AN: Hey there, thanks for the response so far. While I won't guarantee that I'll always be putting these chapters out quickly, I kinda had some time to spare and ideas to work with. also:

Guest: Though I doubt you'll be reading this, you did manage to spark some ideas. Whether or not I use them, though, only time will tell. On a side note thanks for being my first review in spite of the harshness within it. Also, could you do me the favor of using an account next time. And yes, I will admit it was fairly cliché.

Draconis: Thanks for the encouragement and I was definitely aiming Ranma at Noire before I even typed the first word of the story. Though I will clarify, Noire is not likely to be the pairing here if there is one with Ranma. Also, I'll have to go back sometime later and clean up the previous chapter. I hope I managed a better job this time.

Nyamu: Not really sure if that was a reference to the other ranma/neptunia crossover or not as I have, admittedly, not really read it. However thanks for dropping by.

* * *

On the way back, Ranma was able to get a rundown from IF on how things worked around here. As they made their way through the futuristic and clean streets of Planeptune, Ranma was still trying to wrap her head around the many concepts. As far as she could tell, this place was like some kind of really weird dream. Like that Alice story that Ms Hinako had mentioned in class. Ranma was really wishing she had the time to read it now, but she really did not think such a crazy sounding book would ever come back to bite her. Seriously, what was it with everything in her life coming around to screw her over in one way or another? At least so far things seemed straight forward. These CPUs seemed to hold a good amount of power that hopefully can be used to send her back once the world was saved. The thought never even crossed her mind to leave it without helping. One of the driving principles of her life had always been to protect the weak as her lazy panda of a father had taught so long ago.

As they walked, Ranma was brought out of her thoughts by a voice. It was Nepgear with some questions," So Ranma, what are things like back at your home?"

"Hmmm, well it's a bit crazy with all the nut jobs challenging me to fights and the whole fiancé mess my father got me in, but what can I say? It's home," Ranma answered with a shrug as she held her arms behind her head while looking at the Planeptune skyline.

"That so sounds like a martial arts protagonist! … But what's with the white tux? Are you like some sort of cross dressing masked champion of justice at night?" Neptune chimed in as they mad their way.

"Well, before I ended up here I was at my own wedding. It was completely ruined by my rivals and the other fiancés… Ended pretty badly and I ended up being sent flying by- due to a misunderstanding," Ranma replied not wanting to talk about Akane right then. Noire seemed to pick up on the slip as Ranma could feel her piercing gaze.

"Wait, _other_ fiancés? Are you some sort of tramp?" Noire inquired with a none too friendly glare as her mind back tracked to that detail. Ranma only sighed before taking a moment to explain how she had ended up in multiple engagements in the first place. She left out most of the details, including their names. She really was not in the mood to think about it at least until she had a chance to sort things out with Akane.

"Wow, that sucks," Uni commented then blushed as she noticed one detail of the story," Wait, you are engaged to other girls?!"

"Well, duh! I'm a guy and being with another guy is disgusting!" the sometimes girl shot back with a slightly green tint in her face. Just the thought of it brought back memories that to this day disgust her. The others, except Neptune, almost all came to a stop at that comment.

"Come on guys, I already mentioned that she's one of those gender confused martial artists that were raised to be a son. It makes perfect sense that her father would pull this kind of thing," Neptune admonished the others. They just nodded wearily as they picked up the pace. Ranma was then reminded of the fact she still had not told them about the curse. _Oh well, I_ _'_ _ll get to that once we_ _'_ _re at this basil con place._ Ranma's thoughts were then derailed by Neptune's next statement," Though I will admit it is rare to see an actual yuri harem protagonist. You go girl!" She added giving a big thumbs up to Ranma.

"Ok, someone mind telling me what a harem is? I've heard of it before but no one ever tells me the dang meaning. Also, what does flowers have to do with it?" Ranma asked in annoyance. While it is true that Ranma had heard the term, everyone simply seemed to leer at her when she asked them what one was. She also never really had the time to look it up since it seemed to be a foreign word and she had too little time for studying as it was between training and fighting. This time even Neptune missed a step as they stopped, recovered, leered at her, shrugged, and walked on," What is with that response, seriously? What does it mean!?"

"Uh, wow, you're serious? Uh well to put it simply, you're in one. It's where you got someone with multiple people in love with them… Also it's YURI, not lily, and that means girls that like other girls in the romantic way, like in Panicked Strawberries," Neptune answered cheerily. While everyone was taking a second to give Planeptune's CPU a speculative glance, Ranma was trying to figure out what panicking strawberries had to do with anything and subsequently passed it off as the shrimp goddess's personal blend of weird.

"Huh, that's strange, none of the girls seem to like each other-" then Ranma remember her current form," Hey, I'm a guy, got that!"

"Sure you are, and those breasts are totally manly," Noire scoffed in sarcasm.

"I said it's complicated and I'll tell ya 'bout it when we get somewhere I can get some hot water," Ranma answered in annoyance once more," By the way, why did we all go to this Planeptune place when there should have been one of these places in Lastation?"

The group stopped once again as everyone thought about that for a moment before all eyes settled on the short purple haired culprit. After that, they made their way to the Basilicom with Noire grumbling something about idiots in the heat of the moment. Though strangely enough, Ranma noted she was blushing.

* * *

Histoire was busy going over some paperwork when she received a call from IF that the group was coming back and that there had been some unexpected changes to the situation. She did not go into the details saying it was too troublesome to explain over the phone. At least Histoire was informed that they'd be showing up shortly and asked to make some tea. At least, that was what Histoire thinks the brunette meant when she asked her to get some hot water started. In any case, she did her best to getting the tea started. It's a lot harder to do when you're as small as she is. It also does not help when you're confined to a tome. She was able to get a kettle of water on the stove and turn on the heat. Nepgear or Compa would have to take care of the rest of it. She was just leaving the kitchen when she heard the door slam open to the main living room of the Basilicom's living area.

"And here we are! Home sweet home, now to lie back, relax, and play games! Oh, hey Nep Jr., can you go get your dear sister some pudding!" Neptune greeted as she almost immediately turned on the TV, fired up a console and sat down on a bean bag chair with a controller. Histoire could only sigh at Neptune's antics.

"Um, Neptune, aren't you forgetting something?" Nepgear asked nervously.

"Oh, we out of pudding again? I thought we restocked before we left," replied the slacker CPU of Planeptune.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe your sister is talking about me and possibly, oh I don't know, SAVING YOUR WORLD!" screeched an unfamiliar voice. For once it was not Noire chiding her. _Well that was new._ Histoire thought as she floated into the room.

"She's right, Neptune. This is no time to be slacking off," the tome scolded her goddess.

"Awww, come on, I already got the gist of it. I figured I would let you all sort the details and I'd relax to a-," Neptune was then cut off by the strange new girl in a fairly worn, white tuxedo.

"YOU! You're the strange girl I saw before I got to this crazy world!" She angrily accused while pointing at Histoire," Ya know, next time ya need help, try asking before you go dumping someone into another world!"

"Um, I'm sorry, but did I miss something. I don't believe we've met? I am known as Histoire, the oracle of Planeptune," Histoire greeted the angry newcomer courteously but in obvious confusion.

"Don't play dumb with me chick, ya got that. I really doubt there are any other little girls going around in floating books!" Ranma raged on.

* * *

Elsewhere in another dimension, a similarly sized girl wearing black with white hair sat upon her tome. She felt something, turned to the fourth wall, and stared.

"What, you expecting me to play along with this old gag? Seriously get out of here, you're boring me!" Croire waved the audience off…

123456654321

"Awe, Histy, how could you? I mean really, stealing people from their homes is not very nice," Compa scolded the tome with a glare.

"B-but I didn't do this. I have never met this girl," said girl growled," before-," Histoire tried to defend herself before she was cut off by what her senses were picking up. It was dumb founding what she was picking up from this girl. The amount of chaos that shrouded her was insane. No one with that much chaos shrouding them would even have long to live. However the girl lived with it this long, the fact she was in the presence of CPUs was keeping it in check. She hoped.

"See, now you remember," the red haired girl pressed on," now come clean and admit it!"

"I'm sorry, but I have ne- "Histoire started again before being cut off.

"Really, and that look you gave me just now?" the mysterious girl pressed on.

"Please let me explain," Histoire begged to which the girl harrumphed and nodded," I have truly never seen you before. What shocked me was when I noticed that you were shrouded in chaos. I know for a fact I have never met someone like that before."

The girl did not seem convinced, but she seemed to be fine letting it go for later. Histoire sighed in relief and went back to studying the girl. It took all of her attention to pierce the shroud, but what else she found after three minutes was even more puzzling.

* * *

In the meantime as Histy continued to quietly stare at Ranma, the group settled down and began to discuss what was going on and what to do next.

"So Ranma, you gonna finally tell us what is so complicated?" Noire started them off as she decided to get the details about their newest ally settled. She didn't know what, but she felt that there was definitely something fishy about Ranma. It most certainly had nothing to do with the fact that the new girl squished her like a bug on her landing. _Seriously? She could have landed anywhere but ends up on a direct course with me!_ She sighed internally as she refocused her attention on Ranma.

"Sorry, but I would rather have hot water on hand so I can show you while I tell ya 'bout it. If you need the basics though, I'm cursed," Ranma replied," As for the details, they can wait until then."

That only made Noire more skeptical. They were dealing with someone that had a curse. You usually have to have done something pretty bad or ticked off the wrong person to get one of those. _She said she would explain it when the water was ready so I guess that can wait for now._ As Noire was thinking of her next question, Neptune decided to take a shot of her own," So Ranma, how good are you at, ya know, martial arts. I mean you got to be pretty good to take a god out, right?"

Ranma turned to the purple CPU and smirked with the utmost confidence. Her eyes were brimming with arrogance as she spoke," Good? I'm the best!"

"Oh really, like how you apparently got sent flying during your wedding?" Noire deadpanned. This girl was really getting on her nerves.

"Hey. That's different!" Ranma stuttered out. _That took the wind out of her overblown sails_. Noire thought when a new voice entered the fray.

"Oh, I get it! You're like me when it comes to training," Tekken suggested in her usual timid manner. Ranma seemed to be lost in thought for a moment on how to reply. It had not occurred to Noire until just then that Ranma might share something in common with the resident martial artist of the group. Though strangely, Ranma did not seem the type.

"Well, I do train and it can be fun, but usually it sucks when I end up doing special training or in one of pop's idiotic schemes," Ranma considered thoughtfully," I mean I like going over the forms and exercising my mind and body, becoming lost in the practice of the art, but it usually sucks when pops or some of the others start pulling the crazy stuff out."

"R-really, you focus on that stuff," Tekken sounded a little deflated to find that Ranma might not be her maso-training comrade in arms," So what does your father put you through?"

"Just about anything you can think of, one time for speed training my old man threw beehives at me and I had to keep fighting them off until I could take out all the bees without being stung," Ranma showed disgust at the memory," At least that's not the worst, and no I ain't gonna tell ya 'bout that!"

 _Ok, not a masochist. Seriously though, what the hell kind of training is that? Also, I_ _think I can live without hearing any more of that._ Noire then happen to see a twinkle of awe shining brightly in Tekken's eyes. _And now we_ _'_ _re going to have to have ointment and such to treat bee stings on hand later_ _…_

* * *

After the group settled down and got off the topic of Ranma, they started explaining what happened in Lastation to Histoire. As the recap came to a close, the tea kettle could be heard whistling in the kitchen. Nepgear. promptly excused herself to go get the hot water. It was now time to talk about Ranma's curse. All eyes focused on her as they waited for Nepgear's return. They did not have to wait long as Nepgear returned quickly with the whole kettle in hand. _Ok, let_ _'_ _s see what cool secrets our new resident martial arts harem master has to reveal!_ Neptune thought to herself as she watched said martial artist accept the kettle from Nep Jr. with a sigh.

"Ok, so you all remember how I said I am a guy? Well-" Ranma then promptly poured some of the steaming hot water on her head with only a small flinch. What Neptune saw next shocked her completely. Ranma turned into a man in front of them instantly as he grew taller, his hair turned black, and he lost all signs of being female. Neptune was not quite sure how to feel about this. On one hand, he was a guy and that meant that he was now demoted to secondary character status or a villain now. It was a fact that in this series, the only playable characters with names and an appearance, thus the ones that had any impact on the plot, were girls. While it was true that there were games that had the player play as a guy on their side, they weren't cannon and the guy still never actually fought or made an on screen appearance. Now on the other hand, he was a girl half the time it seemed, and even if he was a guy the other half of the time, he was a cute guy. That had to count for something right? As Neptune was thinking on this matter she noticed that Histoire was frowning. _She must be thinking the same thing._ Well whatever the final verdict was, something else had played out as these thoughts ran through the series' main heroine's head.

* * *

Ranma thought he was forgetting something about his demonstration, and then it hit him quite literally," It's a scary guy, KYAHHH!" He had forgotten to give enough of an explanation to lessen the shock beforehand. Now had he known or been forewarned, he would not have let the sloppy looking punch from Tekken connect. Since he did not know and had not been warned about it, he was now sailing through the skies of Gamindustri once more. He had been initially knocked out by the deceptive blow to his chin. However, he had soon recovered to watch Planeptune shrink away into the distance. If he had to admit one thing about the other martial artist, it would be that while her form seemed to suck she packed a lot of power. She definitely outclassed Ryouga in that regard, but Ranma was fairly confident in his ability to take her on in a fight.

 _Yup, unless she_ _'_ _s packing speed to go with that strength I should be able to handle her no problem!_ Ranma thought to himself to bolster his confidence. Then he noticed that he was flying fairly fast without any signs of descending anytime soon. _Well great, looks like I_ _'_ _m gonna be stuck in the air for a while, I wonder where I_ _'_ _ll end up now?_ Ranma took a moment to consider the likelihood of it being somewhere good. It was at that moment that he felt a full body shiver. Whatever place he was likely to end up was going to be hell. He just knew it!

* * *

"Aw, Tekken, why'dya have to go and do that. We didn't even get to hear how the curse worked or how, uh, he, for now I guess, got it!" Neptune complained to the timid girl who was apologizing profusely for her actions. Nepgear at that moment was wondering about her place in the story now. While it is true that she usually does not put this side of her on display in an attempt to stay in character during this part of the series, she is Neptune's sister after all and is very aware of her place in the series. She was supposed to be the main character of this adventure and she was afraid that this Ranma girl was about to steal her one time in the spotlight. Well now that Ranma had been revealed a man and summarily removed from the story thanks to Tekken, her place as the protagonist was secure once more!

System notice: Nepgear has unlocked the achievement "Delusions of Grandeur".

"Wow Jr., that's harsh!" Neptune commented at the notice. Nepgear then realized that she had indeed been demoted at that moment and became depressed.

System notice: Nepgear has unlocked the achievement "Darkness Rising".

"Wow, you trying to speed run all of the achievements, sis?" her sister teased her. Nepgear blushed in embarrassment and fled to her room crying about some dude named Akira Toriyama.

"So, anyone know where Ranma flew off to?" Neptune asked with a forced smile and a sweat drop. IF pointed the way, "Uh, isn't that the direction of Leanbox? Hoo boy."

* * *

Vert was not happy. After what happened when they found the truth behind the Gehaburn, she had returned home to mange her nation and watch out for the actions of the purple sisters. She had watched as Noire's shares took a nosedive shortly after. She even watched a live feed of the battle that broke out. The feed had been cut right as Noire was going to sacrifice her life. It did not take much thinking to figure out why. Noire was gone. Uni would most likely be as well. It saddened Vert that it had come to this. Goddesses who should be united to save the world were struggling over who should be alive to rule afterwards. Vert had no intention on being one of the fallen. Leanbox would prosper. Chika would not be left alone again.

So it was with these thoughts running through her mind, Vert finished today's paperwork and left to the guild office to take some quests to help protect her shares from falling to Planeptune's eventual efforts. It was at times like this she wished she had a little sister like the others. It would make the work load so much easier. Plus she so dearly wanted a cute little sister. True, Chika tried to fill that spot for her, but the sad fact was that Chika was only mortal and would in time grow old and pass away. That didn't mean the Leanbox CPU did not cherish her in her own way, but the fact was a mortal could never truly fill the void of a candidate. Not to mention, Chika was just a little too old physically. True that Vert had no right to talk on the matter seeing as she was the most _mature_ of the goddesses, but you can't blame her for wanting someone that better fit the role.

As Vert was musing over these facts, a streak of white and black caught her attention off in the distance as it crashed into the bay. For all she knew, it could be a plot by Asic. So she took on her form as Green Heart and quickly flew to a nearby beach to take a closer look. What met her eyes was a bedraggled girl with red hair crawling onto the beach in the drenched remains of some sort of white formal wear for men. She was coughing up water before the poor thing finally rolled on her back and passed out. Green Heart approached her to get a better look. The girl was very cute and just the right age group for her liking. As a certain smile crossed her face and entered her eyes, one might notice a shiver going through the poor red head's body.

While mortals did age, it didn't mean she couldn't use them as a substitute from time to time…

* * *

The first thing Ranma noticed when he woke up was that he was very comfortable and warm though a little smothered. As his thoughts collected themselves and sorted out the danger levels of these variables for waking up, his mind started to recall what happened last. _Hmmm, I was sent flying by that punch then I ended up napping during said flight. Oh that_ _'_ _s right, I passed out on the beach after crashing into a bay. Note to self, no matter how long and boring the flight, stay awake for the landing_ _…_ Then his brain completely woke up as it went to red alert. He opened his eyes to find his head was trapped in some form of a marshmallow hell. Terror ran down the martial artist's very soul as he immediately pulled himself from between the silk covered mounds with all his might.

After liberating his head, he was able to get a better look at the situation and found that he was a girl and wearing a green negligee cuddled up into a hug with an older woman wearing a matching one. Said woman was starting to wake up. Ranma took advantage of the waking woman's now slack grip and rolled out of the bed and into a defensive stance as her head darted about looking for signs of danger. The blonde woman opened her eyes and watched the pig-tail- wait, Ranma's hair was unbound at the moment as she realized from the feel of her hair whipping about. The strange woman looked confused at first, but then took on an understanding and comforting demeanor," Do not worry dear, you're safe here. I found you washed up on the shore yesterday afternoon. I couldn't leave you out in the cold like that, so I brought you home to my Basilicom."

Ranma was now even more on edge. She could sense something predatory within the woman. Something that was all too familiar. If that was not enough, the woman was a goddess if she understood that last statement right. Ranma visibly shook at the thought of a cross between Kodachi and Saffron. The other woman took this action to mean something else," Oh, you must be cold in that now. Don't worry; I have some clothes set aside in the washroom over there for you. Oh, and I am known as Lady Green heart, but you can call me Vert," the goddess offered with a kind smile as she got up and left the room. Ranma could not help but notice the look in her eyes. Shrugging it off and going to the bathroom to wash up and get into some clothes that would hopefully be more suitable for public when she made her escape. Yes, escape, she had no intentions on seeing where this was leading. She already knew as she had seen this pattern play out so many times before.

What she found in the room shocked her. There were two sets of clothes and a note that read:

I apologize for the invasion of your privacy dear, but you must understand that it would be uncouth of me to allow a guest to stay in such a state of dress and care. I will admit I was quite shocked at what I found in this endeavor and hope you can forgive me. I won't press to know anymore about the matter, but feel free to come to big sister Vert if you need anything!

Well, that settled it. Escape was a must. This goddess was dangerous. Ranma almost wanted to flee on the spot, but decided to go along with it until she was prepared. This of course had nothing to do with the fact her stomach was growling mind you… ok it did, but that's beside the point.

Ranma decided to go out as a guy since he much preferred his birth form and he wanted to use it to gauge the dangerous goddess. What he wore was a black tuxedo with green trim and stylized "L" over the coat's left breast pocket. Ranma was hoping that since Vert had gone to the trouble of figuring out how the curse worked that she was only interested in his girl side. To his chagrin, he was wrong and the woman seemed to enjoy how he looked in the clothes when they met outside of the bedroom in the hall. She then led him to a dining area and they had breakfast. Not much was said as Ranma was hungrily stuffing his face. More so than usual since he hadn't eaten much say for some trail rations the others had shared on the way to Planeptune earlier. The older woman was strangely not put off by Ranma's lack of table manners and was in fact giggling every now and then as she would interrupt him to chide him about lack of manners like Kasumi used to when she tried to teach him said manners some time ago before giving up.

* * *

Chika was not happy. Her precious Vert was giving this stranger attention. Attention that should have been hers by right. The green oracle was very displeased. As the morning went on and breakfast was finished, she reminded Lady Green Heart that she had pressing matters to attend. While her goddess was not happy to be reminded of such, she had to separate her from this… person. She really hated this Ranma Saotome. The boy was something which even she could not compete with. He was able to act the part of both a green brother and sister in one. How do you go up against that, especially when the person looked good regardless of what form they had at the time? It was like the universe at large was mocking her love of the goddess at every turn!

Now that they were alone, she briskly guided Ranma to a more private place to talk. Once they were alone in one of the mansion's lesser used studies, she closed the door behind them. Ranma looked a bit nervous at this, but the oracle ignored it and began her 'Lecture', "Now Listen here, I don't know what you're after, but get one thing straight! Vert is mine! You got that? While I can't do anything about her decisions, I want it perfectly clear that I won't take this lying down! Especially when I haven't had her around for three years and now we have a war between the goddesses at hand while we're on the brink of annihilation!"

The boy seemed to relax at this declaration and sigh. _What the hell kind of response is that!?_ Then he gave her an arrogant smile as he replied," Oh thank kami! Listen, I have no interest in Vert. In fact if you want her to yourself, you can help me get out of here. Trust me; I do not want to hang around this joint."

That was not at all what she had been expecting, but if it meant actually getting rid of him, then she had no qualms assisting in this endeavor. As such, she helped him make his way out of the Basilicom and led him to a port where he asked for directions to Planeptune. The enemies' camp. She could not believe the shear gal of the man to try and pull something like this. So, she gave him directions that would lead him to Lowee instead. Its CPU would certainly put him in has place! As such, she went home to the Basilicom to make a call…


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I think we know the drill. I don't own these series.

AN: Reminder- Still have no pairing in mind. I will say this however, it will not be Akane if there ever is one. Not because of the bashing (more about that in my reply to Weebee), but simply the fact that I do have other plans. By the, I hope the action scene is halfway decent.

Lunar Adept: and more there shall be!

Klade: Yup, and I have a reason for it.

Weebee: Yeah, reason for Nepgear's announcements is because she is no longer the star of the story. That and I liked victory more than MKII, funny thing is my favorite story and setting in the series is actually the original game in spite of the horrible gameplay that broke my R2 trigger and nearly my thumb... As for the Ranma side of things, I will admit I totally screwed up and dropped the ball where Akane was concerned. By the way, thank you for actually getting what I was intending to go for in spite of my idiocy... When I read your review, I had to actually go back to chapter 1 just to see this train wreck. Yeah, I might have to go and do a revision sometime sooner than I thought. Probably after I finish up the MKII arc. As for the mallet, that was actually a left over from the original version of the first chapter that was not put up. The reason was to help draw comparisons to Blanc... I did in fact know she usually used her fist or a bamboo sword. As for the god thing, I stepped on that one on purpose. While it may have been unnecessary, I wanted something that could be used in the manner I used this in the first chapter. By the way, thanks for the review!

AN2: Ok, not much happened here except for a slight HDD mishap with Neptune... Seriously can't believe I forgot to shift Neptune's mental gears.

* * *

The previous day

"Okay guys! We got things to do and with little time to do it in. Though I really wished Noire and Uni had stayed to help, we'll just have to make do with what we got!" Neptune announced to her comrades with gusto," So, uh, what's the plan at this point?"

The others sighed as the airhead struck again and none of the usual planners were around. Noire and Uni had made their way back to Lastation in order get their shares back to normal after Planeptune's attack. Histoire had left to check up on Nep Jr. who was still sulking in her room over the earlier episode. Finally, Iffy had left with Compa to go shopping for the upcoming trip. _Oh, nep it, I might actually have to come up with something for this part of the story-_

"Ahem, I believe I have an idea of some merit," MAGES. Spoke up. _Hurray for always having a large and diverse supporting cast to get you through a jam!_ Thought the ever lazy heroine. While it is true she always gives it her all where it counts, there were several factors that left her less than at her best. One, she was not the main protagonist of this story and the honor of that had been given to the newcomer. Two, seeing as the main protagonist was not present the final battle would have to wait until the party was back in order. Three, this fic had the genres of humor and adventure. That meant that there was no need to worry about the author doing anything world ending, right? Wind blowing by could be heard as a tumbleweed could be seen passing through the background. _Oh nep it. That_ _'_ _s never a good sign._ Neptune could have sworn she heard maniacal laughter somewhere off in the distance. In any case MAGES. continued," We need to inform the other goddesses of the situation and find Ranma fast if we are to solve this. Since time is of the essence and they are not likely to answer any calls from Planeptune, I would suggest splitting the group and contacting Blanc and Vert. With any luck this should solve the problem with Ranma on its own since HE should be somewhere near Leanbox now. As such, I suggest sending Nepgear, IF, Compa, 5pb, and Cave to Leanbox and the others to Lowee."

"Uh, doesn't that Tandem guy always say not to split the party? Also isn't that just an excuse in most games to force the player to level the under used characters up?" Planeptune's CPU questioned since she really did not like the idea of having even less of her friends on hand for dealing with Blanc and the twins in the upcoming inevitable battle of misunderstandings.

"He's only a bard that spins stories for entertainment, Neptune, I am certain we'll be the ones to get away with breaking his so called ironclad rule," MAGES. declared as a random and ominous crack of thunder could be heard off in the distance. Neptune knew at that moment they were doomed and there was no way out of it as the others were all nodding in agreement with the plan. On a side note she noticed that no one made any effort to deny her second claim. That was at least heartening in the face of this debacle.

* * *

It had taken some time and convincing to get Nepgear to agree to leave her room in the face of the humiliation she had suffered earlier that day. As such, it was too late to go out by the time she was ready. Thus the expedition had been delayed to the following morning. Nepgear wasn't happy that she had been assigned to the group that would most likely find Ranma, but in the end, she had to accept her place in the story now and was looking forward to seeing Vert. Since the CPU did not have a candidate, Nepgear always felt drawn to her. While Vert was no replacement for big sis, she still wanted to comfort the mature goddess from time to time.

So it was that they made their journey to Leanbox with high hopes.

* * *

Mina was having a stressful time of late. Ever since the blow out at Planeptune between the CPUs of Gamindustri, Blanc had returned to the Basilicom with Rom and Ram in tow. This would have normally been a good thing in her opinion after the last three years, but unfortunately the circumstances had been rather dire. It turned out the weapon the goddesses had tracked down needed them to die to power it up. This was of course unacceptable to all involved. Sadly, the only other option that was presented at the time to save their world was equally unacceptable as it required the goddesses to lay aside their pride and give up all of their faith to one nation. So of course it led to a break down in the unity of the CPUs at this dark time. Now however, it had been made worse as of yesterday's events. As far as they could tell from the cut feed, Lastation had fallen to Planeptune and now the goddesses were going to have to die. This was, again, unacceptable. How could they expect such a thing of the other nations? Especially Lowee in fact. Mina did not want to think about the harsh reality that she and Blanc were going to have to explain to the twins later today after their talk the previous night on the matter. Blanc had decided that she would kill or be killed in the end and that the twins would have to decide whether or not to follow. She obviously hated the decision as could be attested to by the wreckage of her desk, but the facts were clear. No CPU would willingly give up their shares like that and now that two goddesses had been killed more were to follow. This was wrong on so many levels. At least she and Blanc would be giving the twins time to play around until later tonight before breaking the news to them. They deserved some time of happiness together before the battle of Gehaburn in Lowee.

It was for this reason that Mina was somberly watching over the twins drawing and coloring in- _oh dear, Blanc is not going to be happy about this_. She thought as she saw the books. She was going to scold them when she heard a phone ring. She left to go answer the call. It was from Leanbox. _Were they planning on making an alliance maybe?_ Mina thought as she picked up the phone and accepted the call.

"Hello, this is Mina, whom may I ask is calling?" the Lowee oracle answered the phone.

"Hello Mina, this is Chika calling from Leanbox," Chika replied," Just letting you know I just had a strange run in with a strange Planeptune spy."

"I see, what was so strange?"

"Well, for starters this spy can swap genders through the use of different temperatures of water. If that's not weird on its own, the spy had managed to get close to Vert… In any case he-she-it had slipped up and asked directions to Planeptune. The nerve of some people I tell you. As for why I'm calling you, it's to warn you that I sent them your way."

"You cannot be serious… Very well, I'll have Blanc informed on the matter. Now if you could give me an estimate on the time of arrival and data on his and her appearances, I can see to the rest."

"Already have pictures being sent to you now. As for the arrival, I would say sometime tomorrow, likely around noon. Good bye."

"Thank you and farewell," Mina ended the call as she left to go to her work terminal to open an email from Leanbox. Mina could not believe what she got. She was also feeling a little flushed at the sight before her. _Wow, I better check back with her to make sure she sent the right files because these look like something from Vert_ _'_ _s private folder_ _…_

* * *

30 minutes later,

Blanc was red in the face. She could tell. The cause of this came from five minutes prior when her oracle came to relay the news from Leanbox. She was curious why Mina seemed to be blushing as she delivered the report and handed her a flash drive with all of the data on the soon to be intruder. It had even piqued her curiosity when Mina vacated the room at top speed, well top speed when you're in that get up at least. Afterwards, she had pulled out her back-up laptop and thoughtlessly attached the drive and opened the files. What she was greeted by at first was a collection of very candid pictures of a short, busty red head in various states of dress while apparently sleeping. That was rather disturbing to say the least. It looked like something from thunder tit's personal collection. What she saw next however was just too much. It was a bath scene with a naked black haired boy from various angles while also apparently sleeping. _What the hell!?_

Needless to say Blanc had been stressed out with everything that had gone down since the whole ASIC incident had started. Seriously, losing like it was nothing three years ago when teamed up with the others, being held prisoner a la cord bondage in the graveyard and powerless for same said three years, then after finally being rescued she finds herself in a life or death struggle with not only her life on the line but the twins as well. Throw in the stress of the upcoming talk to come tonight and you have a nice Blanc powder keg waiting to blow. A number of emotions warred within her at that very moment. She was humiliated at what had to be a joke. She was utterly flustered at the unexpected sight before her. She was even embarrassed. Most of all however, She was pissed.

"MINA! GET YOUR ASS BACK IN HERE OR I SWEAR I'LL STRANGLE YOU BEFORE MAKING A TRIP TO LEANBOX TO PUT THAT COW OUT OF HER MISERY!" the now White Heart roared as she drew out her signature axe to grind. Blanc was not happy and now Mina was going to learn just how much. _This is no time for jokes DAMMIT!_

* * *

Later that day, Neptune and friends found themselves standing before the castle that was Lowee's Basilicom. It had been a fairly easy trip all things said and done. After all it was only a cl- oh right, this isn't the game. _Oh well, I_ _'_ _m sure I_ _'_ _ll be able to get around to explaining this detail later._ As for why she was not going to the trouble right now, it had to do with the small group of girls here to greet them. Ram and Rom stood together with their weapons drawn and determined yet frightened looks in their eyes in front of them stood their big sis Blanc. She was the reason Neptune wanted to put explaining why the world seemed to be so small for later. It would be less work for her after all since she was most likely about to die and therefore have a good excuse to not do it then either. The reason for this observation was solely Blanc. When they arrived, she was already in HDD with her sisters and staring them down with a single glowing red eye. While it is possible to beat Blanc in the con- er in certain instances, that was usually after weakening her by taking almost all of her shares. Which they had not done or even considered before making this ill fated plan," Uh, MAGES., you were saying about splitting the group?" Neptune asked nervously as she took a glance at the ill fated plan's creator. Said planner visibly shook herself. Fear was evident on her face. They were so screwed.

"B-but, that is only the words of an entertainer, not an adventure!" the usually collected wizard squeaked in response.

"Uh, you have bothered to check into what it takes to be a REAL bard, right?" Neptune shot back skeptically. She was answered with a small shake," If we live through this I'm handing you a copy of Advanced Dungeons & Dogoos," the doomed goddess muttered before putting on her best smile and turning to the source of said doom," So uh, hey there Blanc! Is there anyway we can avoid the whole obligatory fight and just talk about this?"

"Listen here bitch, after EVERYTHING I've been through lately, you are the first valid target for my frustrations and I have a lot to work out!" With that said, the nepped fighters prepared to die as White Heart charged and her sisters began to cast buffs on her. Sadly, MAGES. and Puchiko were both KO'd instantly and sent flying toward the setting sun in the first 3 seconds of the fight via the Blanc Express. _Hopefully Nep Jr. is having a better time of it than us!_

* * *

Nepgear's group had a fairly easy trip to Lowee and all. Thanks to Cave and 5pb, they were able get a ship into Leanbox with no trouble at all. Along the way in the streets they got slowed down by people wanting 5pb's autograph and such once they got to Leanbox, but it had been a small delay when all was said and done. Fortunately, at least in Nepgear's mind, they had not come across their errant protagonist. _Oh, why can_ _'_ _t I even hold the lime light in the one story of the series I get to star in?_ She sighed at this thought. _Oh well, I guess this just means I_ _'_ _ll get more time with sis since we_ _'_ _re likely going to share more off screen time in this story._ Then they arrived at the entrance to the mansion that was Leanbox's Basilicom. Vert stood before them in HDD," I see Planeptune is filled with fools to only send a candidate with so little forces to kill me. Has killing Noire and Uni brought you hubris I wonder?"

"Uh, V-Vert, we're not here to fight! Uni and Noire are just fine!" Nepgear used all her courage to reply.

"Really, I can hardly imagine what I saw on the feed could have ended with anything but death," Green Heart spoke with a cold look in her eyes," Now let's get this over with so I can find my dear Ranma."

"W-wait, did you say Ranma, as in Ranma Saotome?" Nepgear asked pleadingly. For some reason it hurt to hear Vert address Ranma like that, but she would save that for later and focus on getting through this. The green goddess paused in shock before giving a half lidded glare.

"What do you know of him? Have you taken her captive?" Vert asked with a dangerous tone as she hefted her spear.

"NO! Ranma is the one that stopped Noire from killing herself in Lastation and we are looking for her-I mean him since he went flying due to an accident involving Tekken," Nepgear spat out quickly. The sooner she got this out the better her chances of not having to fight a full powered Vert with just her small group. The goddess of the spear paused for a moment as if to add some facts up mentally. She lowered her weapon but still held it at the ready.

"As much as I want to believe you Nepgear, I'm going to need proof," Leanbox's CPU demanded levelly.

"Well, I'm sure if you had Chika call Lastation, we can have this whole affair solved," Nepgear replied nervously.

"Very well, you heard them Chika, please be a dear and check that for me," Green heart called out to the woman who had been watching the whole scene from behind the slightly opened front door.

"Yes, My Lady!"

* * *

Kei was actually having a good day. She had feared the worse when the feed cut out. She did not know what to do for once, She had been scared and angry, but most of all sad until her goddesses came home the previous night to try and get Lastation back on track after the attack. Kei had actually cried tears of joy at seeing their return. It took her roughly five minutes to get herself back to her usual stoic self. However she was still brimming with elation and joy on the inside. Enough so that she was starting to notice that she had made some mistakes in her work since. Now that she thought of it, there was something nagging at the back of her mind that she really was supposed to have done. Then she heard the phone ring at her desk. Since Noire and Uni were busy working and getting their shares back into a better state, it left answering the phone to their Oracle," Hello, this is Kei, who is it and what is your business with Lastation?"

"This is Chika of Leanbox calling, Lady Vert is currently in a stand off with some… visitors from Planeptune," answered the green oracle. It was at that moment that Kei realized what she had forgotten. She had forgotten to spread the news to the other nation about the change in circumstance due to what happened when the feed went out. She was already massaging her temple at this blunder in foresight from her of all people," You see, they are claiming a different story from the consensus of yesterday's battle. Are the CPU and candidate ok?"

"Sorry about the slip up on my end, but yes. That is correct. They returned home just last night after a meeting at the Planeptune Basilicom…" Then a thought occurred to Kei at that very moment," Uhm, how many are currently present?"

"It's just Nepgear, IF, Compa, 5pb, and Cave. Why?" Chika asked in a puzzled tone. Kei just sighed at the blunder she was now responsible for.

"I have to make another call. In any case, their story is true. Noire and Uni are getting things back in order around here right now," Kei answered before abruptly ending the call and dialing up the Lowee Basilicom number.

"Hello, this is Mina, the Lowee Oracle, who is this?" Mina answered. There were various noises and cries of agony filtering through the call.

"Hey, this is Kei from Lastation. I was calling you to inform you of a slip up on my end," Kei spoke tiredly into the phone.

"Oh?" *SHATTER* "What might that be?" "C-C-COLD!"

"I forgot to inform the other nations that Noire and Uni are fine and the Gehaburn was destroyed after the feed was cut. Is there any hope of salvaging things from your end?"

"… ummm," Mina began to laugh nervously as more sounds of battle broke out," I'm afraid we might have a problem…"

The worst part of it was that Kei knew she would be held responsible for this later. She really did not want to think of the restitution costs.

* * *

Ranma Saotome was having a good day so far. True the lady from this morning had given him wrong directions as shown by the cold climate of the area and snow, but he could see a strange city up ahead now. He had made some good time after he got to the port by sprinting and ignoring the monsters along the way. He had made it a good bit of the way and was likely to arrive at this strange city in a few minutes. Once he was there, He'd just get the right directions to Planeptune and be on his way. It was at that moment he noticed two objects in the sky on a trajectory towards him. It was an unconscious MAGES. and that scary Puchhiko girl. Ranma jumped up to catch the unconscious woman to protect her since Puchiko seemed to be ok and had the c-cat like blob thing she was riding to land on. That being said, Ranma had not accounted for the amount of force behind the flying pair and found himself flying with the wizard in his hands and the terrified girl clinging to his now struggling form. They all ended up slamming into a nearby tree and being covered in snow that was knocked loose from its branches. Ranma groaned as she recovered. Then her old fear came back as he found Puchiko and her cat blob thing on her," P-Puchiko. P-please get off!" she begged in a terrified voice. The girl just gave her a half lidded glare and learned forward.

"Broccoli," she spoke in annoyance. Though to Ranma she seemed to be declaring to eat her and listing the recipe," My name is Broccoli-nyu!"

"P-please have mercy and l-let me be!" She was scared stiff.

"Broccoli won't move until Ranma says Broccoli's name-nyu!" The peeved cat girl spoke in growing agitation. Said agitation was picked up and amplified by Ranma's fear induced delusional state of mind. It would be a few seconds before Ranma's reply.

"Meow!"

* * *

As she watched two of her allies go rocketing off toward the sun, Neptune barely had time to finish going HDD herself in order to block the rampaging Blanc's axe with her sword. Even though she had managed to parry the blow, Purple Heart was sent sliding back several meters as Tekken and Falcom charged forth from either side of her to engage the berserk goddess. Falcom's charge was actually brought to a halt as White Heart used the momentum of following through with her earlier axe swing to deliver an unexpected kick to her solar plexus. As the swordswoman screamed out in pain from the blow and subsequently collapsed backward, the white goddess continued to twist around to present the flat side of her oversized axe as a shield against Tekken's blows. Tekken had an oddly happy look on her face as she no doubt just hurt her hands on the weapon. However, the blows did manage to halt Blanc's charge and buy the others time to regroup. _Not good! We_ _'_ _re being easily overwhelmed in this fight!_ Then from behind Blanc, as she leapt out of the way, came a large chunk of ice that froze the masochist martial artist in place.

"C-C-COLD!" cried out Tekken as she became encased in ice from the Twin's combo spell. From around their fallen frozen comrade burst forth the last three members of the Planeptune delegation. Neptune taking the lead and unleashing a powerful attack that forced the Loween tank back a half meter as her katana became locked in a power struggle against the mighty axe and she was losing. As the two were locked in this struggle, MarvelousAQL and Cyberconnect2 dashed by with weapons drawn and each landing a single strike on Blanc as they made their way towards their true targets. Take out the support and the tank will fall. At least that's how it would normally work. Too bad Blanc was having none of that! White Heart hadn't even registered the damage from those attacks.

"Oh like hell you bitches are touching my sisters!" screamed the increasingly incensed White Heart as she fueled her strength with said rage. She immediately overpowered Purple Heart sending her katana flying from her hands. A stunningly quick follow up strike with axe sent Neptune rocketing towards her teammates as Blanc batted her at them. This brought the three stumbling short of the twins and buying said twins enough time to finish their combo spell once more. _Not good! we_ _'_ _re all grouped up. Looks like we've lost this one._ Were Neptune's last thoughts as the spell came crashing over her and the others. The others were completely frozen over, but Neptune's non HDD body was dragged from the ice by White Heart. Thus Neptune's team was soundly beaten by the goddesses of Lowee.

"Now hand over the damn sword and say your last words," White heart demanded in icy tones while holding Neptune's shivering form aloft.

"I, uh, don't have it?" Neptune squeaked unsurely. It was true she didn't have it, but she wasn't sure whether or not Blanc would believe her. Judging by her expression, she didn't.

"What kind of shit are you trying to feed my here? Of course you'd have it! There'd be no point in coming here to kill us without it dammit! Now tell me where the Gehaburn is now bitch!" White Heart bellowed. She was clearly more nepped off than usual. This was likely to end fairly badly for Neptune.

"Uh, well, it's kinda broken to pieces and lying in a crater at Lastation," Neptune honestly answered with a forced smile and a sweat drop. _Note to Neptune, never fight a full powered Blanc when she_ _'_ _s nepped off without additional goddess support. Then again, I think this is one of those scripted losses since I haven_ _'_ _t seen a game over screen yet._

"Are you seriously telling me that this world's last hope was destroyed by you idiots after Noire gave her life to it!?" White Heart growled as her face darkened and a single glowing red eye became visible. It was at that time that Mina came rushing to the group.

"My Lady, I am sorry for the delay, but we just got word from Lastation that the sword is broken but Noire and Uni are just fine!" She called to them. Neptune had tears of relief at that moment. She'd live to have pudding again after all.

"What?" exclaimed the now normal Blanc," … Neptune, it would seem I owe you an apology… Sorry," she poke in her more quiet tone as she released her hold on the other goddess before turning to Mina. It looked like she was about to say more when something cut her off.

"Someone save Broccoli, she's nuts-nyu!" came the familiar cry of Puchiko. All those still conscious and able turned their heads to see said cat girl, with crisscrossed scratches across her face, riding upon Gemma's back desperately bouncing towards them as she was being chased by a female Ranma. The red head was on all fours and giving chase and even sounding like a cat. _Uh, why is she doing that? Is it to make fun of Puchiko or is that some form of martial art like a Cat Fist or something like that?_

The bounding girl quickly took shelter behind Blanc.

* * *

Blanc could not believe this idiotic situation. After all of the bullshit with Neptune today, she now had to deal with the mysterious individual that showed up in Leanbox. She could recognize her features anywhere after THAT. As the memory of the earlier incident came to mind, a light blush came to her face. _Dammit I am going to kill this bitch for the humiliation and give Vert a pounding for her part in it!_ She thought as the blush started to change into a raging red as she hefted her hammer preparing to strike. Neptune quickly crawled out of the way before she collapsed on her back still conscious. Blanc began the deadly swing with all of her might when the charging lunatic stopped short to stare at her with a tilted head and curious eyes. This of course took her by surprise and resulted in her becoming completely unbalanced and losing her grip on her weapon. It went flying about 20 meters away leaving Blanc unarmed. _Shit._

Puchiko continued to flee now, but the red head seemed more intent on Blanc now as she stalked closer. _Why is she smiling so weirdly?! Does she think this is funny?_ Blanc continued to seethe internally before the girl began to rub her head against Blanc's bare legs eliciting a surprised yelp. The girl was acting like a cat, and it finally registered in Blanc's mind as the rage within her receded to be replaced by humiliation.

"Oh wow Rom, she's just like a cat!" Ram commented excitedly.

"Uh huh, I think she wants sis to… pet her?" Rom agreed and added unsurely.

"There is no way that is hap-!" Blanc spat out before tripping and falling backwards as she was backing away from the insane girl. As she sat up, she felt a weight seemingly materialize on her lap. The girl was now resting on her lap. _What the hell!?_

"Oh, she just wanted a lap to sit on," Neptune said thoughtfully from where she was now sitting. Blanc just sat there stiffly as she had no idea what to do. As she stared down at the "cat", it raised its head to stare at her once more.

* * *

 _Mmmmmm, warm lap._ Neko Ranma thought as she rested upon the girl's legs. She had been surprised to find a girl who's presence reminded her of her mate. So much power and outward anger, but hidden beneath it was a kind and caring soul. Just like her mate. It was then she decided she would do for a good nap and now here she was. She couldn't sense anyone familiar to her since the last time she came out to play. As such, Neko Ranma had been worried about being lost. That however was another matter that the normal Ranma can deal with. Her only concern was scaring off enemies and finding a good napping place. Well that and having a snack should one present itself.

As Neko Ranma luxuriated in the lap of the smaller girl, she noticed the girl had not started to pet her. _Maybe she needs a push to know its ok?_ With that thought in mind, she raised her head to stare at the girl intently before-

* * *

Blanc just wanted to die now. After all the recent stress, the life or death crap, and humiliation, this new source of embarrassment was the last straw. The girl had just looked at her and kissed her on the lips. The lunatic had just stolen her first kiss. As if that was not bad enough, this happened with Rom, Ram, Mina, and NEPTUNE of all people watching. Everyone was going to hear of this- then she remembered something. They had a live feed showing this battle to the whole of Gamindustri just like in Lastation to bolster morale and shares in her favor. Tears started to form in the corners of her eyes as she tried her damnedest to hold them back. This humiliation had been utterly complete.

"Oh wow!" chimed the twins as they looked down at the scene before them from either side. They had been curious and had probably come closer to get a better look at the "cat". Soon they were knelt down and PETTING the girl causing her to actually purr.

"Well, got to say Blanny, you got a real catch there!" Neptune chirped from the sidelines while giving a thumbs up. Blanc just stared up at the sky and let the tears stream quietly. She knew there was no way to salvage this.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: the usual, don't own these series.

AN: Ok, some fair warning. This chapter is going to have quite a bit if exposition. It's mainly there to help explain some of game like properties for the story. Things like the group bank, character growth (xp) mechanics, and the source of the fourth wall breaking. True that the last could be left alone, but I have plans that require this set up. So please forgive me on this front. Also, I do not mean to declare Ranma is so awesome in comparison to others here. I'm just trying to balance out and work out how the game system works.

Draconis + guest: I'll take a look at this when I go back to revise, but just for additional clarification, Neptune was not HDD when she was talking... However I probably should have considered this when she was thinking.

Slirith: yup, poor Blanc. Funny part is that she's one of my favorites from the series.

Thanks for the reviews and enjoy!

* * *

Ranma woke up. He began his usual boot up sequence of threat assessment while trying to remember what had happened last. All he needed was the sudden and intense feeling of terror to tell him what had happened. As for the threat assessment, he was in the c-cat nap position on someone's lap and being petted. At first he assumed it was Akane as she was who his other side usually went to, but then he noticed the lap was much smaller. He opened his eyes slowly in dread. The first thing he saw was a young girl with long light brown hair and wearing a pink and white dress with a similarly colored round hat. She had a huge smile and a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"There, that's a good kitty!" she chirped as she rubbed and scratched Ranma's head as if he were a cat.

"Uh, could you all stop that?" he asked as he turned his head to see the victim of his nap. She looked like an older sister to the young girl but only by a few years. She wore a mostly white dress and coat with light blue and a bit of brown for the fur and seems. She also wore a similarly colored hat. Ranma froze at the expression on her pale face. She was staring off into the skies with a distant look and tear tracks down her face. Ranma subsequently rolled off of and stumbled away from her. It was then that a familiar voice came to him.

"Hey there Ranma, I see our new resident martial arts harem master is already at work trying to seduce our lovely Blanc!" Neptune called out from where she sat a little ways from the victim he now knew to be Blanc. Neptune looked fairly beaten up. _What the hell have I gotten myself into-_ then it registered what else she said.

"What the hell did I do and what's with using harem in my title!?" he yelled at the purplette. She smiled before giving him a thumbs up.

"What I mean is you totally smooched Blanc, the goddess of Lowee, with all of Gamindustri as your witness no less than five minutes ago! Now wave to the cameras you Casanova!" Neptune answered while giving a sitting down victory pose and a giant goofy smile. She completely ignored the second question. Ranma paled at that moment. He had just done that out of the blue to a goddess of all people. If the folks back home ever found out about this, he was dead. That much was certain. However, he quickly recovered.

"I didn't mean to, I have no control of myself when I go nekoken!" He tried to defend himself.

"Oh, so you _were_ using some weird martial art that takes away your inhibitions and so, seeing our Blanny, you lost all control and gave into your desires!" Neptune declared in mock shock at first but spoke in fake seductive tones at the end.

"No ya dunce, you got it all wrong. When I go Nekoken I have the mind of a cat. I would never do something like that to a kid! That's disgusting!" Ranma tried to explain himself. However, anything else he was about to say was cut off by a low growl. The girl in pink and another that could pass for her twin both gulped and backed away from Blanc. The white goddess of Lowee was looking at him with murderous intent and a single glowing eye could be seen. The rest of her face was now obscured by a dark aura.

"The hell you say, BITCH!" She screamed out. The words did two things. First it brought the realization that Ranma was in fact a girl at the moment. The second was it froze her in shock at what she heard the girl say. That was not something you'd expect from someone so young. Then her mental faculties came back online with a realization. This was a goddess. She had eternal youth and was most likely far older than even the ghoul back home, and Ranma had just called her a kid. _Shit!_

"Uh oh," Neptune giggled nervously," You just stepped on a landmine. I'd suggest you start running now," Neptune suggested as she began to scramble away from ground zero.

"Uh, listen, I don't mean ta disrespect ya or anything. You're just so small and flat-" Ranma began once more. Ranma quickly realized that in her haste she had stepped on another landmine. Ah the familiar taste of Saotome foot in mouth.

"How dare you! After publicly humiliating me and stealing my first kiss, you insult me!? Bitch!" Blanc growled out before undergoing a weird transformation that changed her hair blue and her clothes became some kind of high tech looking white school swimsuit," PREPARE TO DIE!"

With those final, hauntingly familiar words, a huge axe materialized in her hands and she charged the red headed martial artist. Fortunately for Ranma, Blanc was nowhere near as fast as she was. As such, she was able to dodge the overhead swing of the massive Axe by jumping to the side with ease. Unfortunately, Ranma had once again underestimated the strength of her opponent. The blow struck the ground with such force that it created a massive crater and shockwaves. These shockwaves caught Ranma by surprise and sent her tumbling for several meters before she regained control and rolled back onto her feet into a stance.

"Look here, I'm sorry if you're sensitive about it, but this is seriously a misunderstanding!" Ranma cried out in one final attempt to reason with the goddess.

"You stole my kiss and insulted me twice DAMMIT, what's there to misunderstand!? NOW GO TO HELL!" the goddess raged as she easily hefted her axe once more and came charging. Seeing no chance of ending this peacefully, Ranma charged forth to meet the goddess with the intent of trying to end this quickly. As Blanc charged forth she began to swing her axe and used the momentum to spin about in her charge like a whirling top of death. Ranma slid under the whirling axe to sweep her leg in a seemingly single motion that delivered various kicks to vital points of the twirling goddess. In total she kicked 14 locations across the lower half of the goddess's small frame before ending the motion short of the axe zone and rolling away once more. Ranma stood up once more to face the goddess with a smirk as she came out of the spin. This smirk was lost however when she realized that Blanc had taken no damage from the attack. Ranma was now terrified. This girl was somehow stronger and tougher than the porker back home. This was not good. As such she began to run options in her mind as they closed once more with Ranma forsaking all attempts at offensive in favor of trying to redirect the swings of the axe from striking the ground in a fashion similar to the start of the fight. She was a girl right now and lacked the strength needed to get past such ridiculous toughness. She really only had a few options and she did not want to see the result of a shiryu shoten ha in a city generated by this much rage, nor was she going to unseal _those_ techniques. This left her with the moko takabisha or attempting and hoping that pressure points worked. _Well, here goes nothing!_ She suddenly jumped straight up and charged her attacks.

"Double moko takabisha!" She cried out as she fired off a double shot of her original ki attack. They missed Blanc. They were intended to miss. Her target had been the ground. This kicked up a dirt cloud just as Ranma had planned. What Ranma hadn't planned for was the girl to come literally flying out of the cloud with her axe at the ready. Ranma was barely able to perform an aerial maneuver to dodge the swing. As she dodged, she utilized the kachu tenshin amaguriken to strike at several pressure points in passing. As she now flipped about to make a landing in the clearing smoke below, she prayed that it worked. Blanc twisted about her axe and used the earlier momentum of the swing to throw it at the descending red head before flying down to reclaim her weapon. Ranma had barely managed to dodge this time and was grazed by the spinning axe before landing and managing to jump away to avoid the inevitable shockwaves of impact. As her opponent landed to reclaim the axe, she stiffened as she looked at Ranma. The martial artist smirked. The pressure points had worked after all!

At least that's what she thought until she noticed where she was staring at. That would be when Ranma realized that the front of the tuxedo she got from Leanbox had been slashed through. The small goddess's face became a dark red before she suddenly collapsed. Not sure whether it was the pressure points, a mental meltdown, or some combination of both, Ranma just sighed as she hugged her arms over her exposed breasts. Silence fell over the now wrecked main road of Lowee. Neptune would be the first to break it.

"Wowza! That's one way to end a fight!" commented the blushing Neptune. The twins just nodded in shock.

* * *

Silence filled the room. Nepgear could hardly believe what she had seen. After things had been settled and confirmed through Chika, they had followed Vert into the Basilicom for further discussion when Chika came rushing back with news of a new broadcast of a fight in Lowee. The fight had been short and devastating and Nepgear feared greatly for her sister's life. Then Ranma came bounding in literally like a cat out of hell on Broccili's tail and the scene degenerated into the mess that led to Vert becoming furious. Nepgear was really not liking how Ranma had changed things. The woman had somehow become overly attached to the new protagonist during his/her short stay and was crying out in jealousy over the Lowee CPU's luck. As they watched the scene of the twins petting the insane girl, Nepgear could only wonder at what had brought this about. When Ranma had finally come to her senses and Neptune summarized Ranma's explanation, Nepgear dearly hoped that Ranma never used that power again. She also noted Ranma's type seemed to have something to do with Blanc. _Sh-She isn_ _'_ _t into the same thing as Trick, is he?_ Nepgear shivered at the thought as she overheard a strange giggling from Vert. Then the fight broke out and all fell silent. Ranma really had not been bluffing about being good. However, her speed and skill were obviously not going to be enough to defeat Blanc. That was until they came to this moment.

Nepgear was blushing intensely along with most of the others at the "display". Vert, however, had no blush but had a strange smile and glint in her eyes. Had the goddess noticed something the others had not? Was she thinking of the irony in Ranma's victory? Had she found some critical weakness of Ranma's? Then she saw Vert curse silently.

"I really should have been recording that," She finished muttering with a sigh. What ever Vert had seen, it was something that had been too small to see properly the first time through. Nepgear would have to surf the web later and study the footage.

* * *

Later at the Lowee Basilicom

Ranma was sitting down at a table with the others in the strange castle. After the battle had ended, Mina had Blanc taken to her room to rest for a while. In the mean time, Ranma was offered some clothes. To Ranma's great annoyance, she was handed a light blue and white Lowee soldier outfit, minus the headgear, as it was the only thing that was readily available that was acceptable. The only other options had been to borrow from Mina's wardrobe and that would obviously not fit right. Also, Ranma needed something she could fight in. She would have to get some new clothes herself later. No, she had no intention of going back to Leanbox for the green goddess's charity. That woman sent shivers down her spine. She would have to find a way to make money to buy her own. So here she was now and introductions were taken care of.

"Wow Ranma, that was awesome how you fought big sis!" Ram praised excitedly," I've never seen her lose when she was that angry!"

"So cool," the blue twin added quietly.

"Thanks!" Ranma replied. Though she would admit it was a total fluke to her self, a win was a win and Ranma Saotome doesn't lose.

"Yeah, gotta admit. That finisher was one she'll never live down" Neptune commented. There could be heard a roar and some smashing sounds from Blanc's room now," Oh, looks like she's up!"

"Yeah, I think I'd better get out of here before she sees me, probably still sore about earlier," Ranma stated as she stood to leave. The twins looked a little sad at this.

"Aw, don't worry! I'm sure she'll be over it soon and that she's just working it all out of her system!" Neptune suggested in complete optimism. More crashing sounds could be heard.

"WHEN I SEE THAT BITCH, I AM GOING TO KILL HER DAMMIT!"

"Yeah, I think I'll just make my way back to Planeptune," Ranma deadpanned.

"Uh, then again maybe it would be a good idea if I joined you," Neptune asked with a sweat drop.

"That won't do Neptune. As the only CPU in our group, it falls to you to be present to talk with Blanc when she's ready," MAGES. interjected," However I would suggest one or two people to go with Ranma to keep her out of trouble."

Ranma just glared at the woman as Falcom and Cyberconnect2 stood up. Cyberconnect2 spoke first," I think I'll tag along, you seem to find lots of fun and excitement!"

"I'll join you as well for this trip!" Falcom chimed in.

"I guess, it'll help me find my way around here," Ranma agreed as she stretched and began to make her way out with her new traveling companions.

"Uh, Ranma! Just a word of advice, don't take Falcom onto a boat… you'll regret it," Neptune called out. Ranma nodded and shrugged. Sounded like she had a boat based Ryoga on her team. It was no big deal really since the only place she knew of that required a boat was the last place she wanted to go to. So it was they left. Once they left, Tekken let out a sigh of relief as she was still a little nervous after the last time she saw Ranma. At the same time, Broccoli came out from hiding behind a nearby door.

"Finally the crazy one leaves-nyu," she commented with a half lidded glare. Scratch marks could still be seen on her face.

* * *

"So, Ranma, it might seem a bit late to ask this, but where are we staying tonight?" Cyberconnect2 asked shortly after they left the castle. They looked up at the darkening skies and stopped. Falcom could not believe she had overlooked this detail. She had followed Ranma in the hopes of learning more about him/her and the world Ranma came from. She could tell that Ranma had a lot of stories to tell. _I mean, how can she not have an awesome story? From what she said the other day, her last adventure had her fighting a god!_ Falcom had many adventures of her own, but she was always curious of the stories of others. Apparently she had been so caught up that she forgotten to take any travel money of her own and only had little spending money with her. Truth be known that she and the other makers had placed their funds with the Planeptune Basilicom to be managed and used towards saving the world. Once this was over, they would be reimbursed with what they had contributed and paid any additional money left over in the adventure's account.

"Uh, does anyone else have money for a room tonight?" Falcom asked nervously. Cyberconnect2 shook her head nervously. Ranma just sighed.

"Story of my life, oh well, I would rather not owe you guys anyways. Guess we're camping out tonight," Ranma finished with a smirk. She sounded very used to travel. In any case, they made their way to the outskirts of Lowee. No one in the group wanted to risk seeing Blanc after what happened just to see about money for the night. Ranma somehow found three sleeping bags and some other supplies.

"Uh Ranma, where did you get this stuff if you had no money?" Cyberconnect asked nervously.

"Oh, don't worry, I've had them. One of my rivals is a master of hidden weapons. Ya can't fight someone so many times without picking up a few of their tricks," Ranma assured nonchalantly. Falcom found her smiling once more. It was yet another piece of Ranma's past uncovered.

"Hey Ranma, you mind sharing some stories from your past?" she asked with her eyes alight from curiosity. Ranma sighed before replying.

"I'd rather not think about it right now," Ranma said in melancholy. It sounded like it was a long story. Falcom really was curious, but she was not going to force the subject. She sighed dejectedly as she tried to get ready for the night. Ranma seemed to notice this and seemed to mutter something she couldn't hear," Alright, I'll tell ya a little bit of my life, but only a little. I have spent most my life on the road. My father took me away from home so that we could train in the art. Most of my life has been dedicated to it. Anyways, that's all for now."

With that, Ranma turned in and the others soon followed. Falcom was the last to fall asleep that night as she puzzled over the pieces. Ranma seemed to love martial arts dearly in spite of having been forced down the path at a young age and never having a choice. Falcom wanted to believe Ranma's father would have changed his mind if the child had hated it, but when she remembered what little had been mentioned about the father; it became clear that it wasn't likely. Maybe it was for the best not to know for now. Ranma would share more when she was ready.

* * *

"Oh hi Blanc, are you doing better now that you crashed your own castle?" Neptune greeted Blanc as she joined them with Mina at her side.

"Shut up! Now, where is she?" Blanc fired back quietly but with barely controlled anger.

"Oh well, she left like an hour ago with Cybercon and Falcom to avoid causing another scene," Neptune provided nervously while waving both hands in a placating manner. Blanc shook her head a little and relaxed as she took her seat.

"I guess that will do for now. It's probably for the best after all," Blanc finally let out a sigh. The truth was that she was getting too exhausted from being so angry today. On top of that, she was emotionally drained. Having one's mind snap from so much stress and fainting can do that. Though she still was not sure what the girl had been trying to do in the last bit of the engagement. There was no way whatever she had done could hurt her, but she had a sneaking suspicion that she felt something wrong before the finally "display". That girl had some interesting skills. Anyways, she had to talk with Neptune again before she could call it a night," Ok, so you mind telling me why you came here? Are you gathering the CPUs for another conference now that everything has gone so wrong?"

"Right-eroni! We're here to get everyone back together to try and save the world once more!" Neptune confirmed in her usual manner now.

"I see. While I must admit that I'm happy to hear that the Gehaburn is gone, I'm afraid that doesn't change our situation that much except now we'll have to fight over who gets the shares for the final battle. I am not handing them over," Blanc said seriously.

"Oh, we let that option sail a long time ago Blanc. With Ranma here, everything has changed!" the goddess of Neptune declared.

"I'm guessing this Ranma is the strange girl from earlier? I'm sorry, but I don't think I understand, how does she change everything?" Blanc demanded.

"Well… uh, oh I know! She's the new protagonist of this adventure and she's from another world! With how many books you read Blanc, I'm sure you know what that means," Neptun explained. _Typical Neptune to depend on logic based on that to save the day. I guess I_ _'_ _ll humor her to see where this confidence comes from._

"Really, so what are her traits?" Blanc questioned.

"She's a gender bending, god slaying, martial arts harem master!" Neptune once more declared with a smile while giving a "V" for victory. Silence filled the room as Blanc pieced together Neptune's description and added it to what she had seen earlier. Then the pictures resurfaced once more. Blanc's blush came back at the memory but settled quickly as she worked it all together.

"Wait, are you trying to tell me she has killed a god before!?" Blanc spat out. _Was she holding back in their fight? Maybe, she never really did take any real damage from it all. For the most part she only defended herself. She didn_ _'_ _t even aim that one attack at me. Then there was the_ _weird_ _technique. Also, there was that one kick at the start. I felt several hits in an instant but they were too weak_ _…_

"Well, we don't know for sure, but she claims to have done so. She doesn't seem to be lying, though that was in her world. Maybe gods are weaker there?" Neptune spoke ponderously," Oh, now that I think of it! She did yell at Histy about sending her to our world to save it, but Histy says she never met Ranma before."

Well, that was all she needed to know. Blanc was going to follow along and see what came of it. Blanc had read stories where things like this had happened. She wasn't sure about the likelihood of it, so she would wait until the conference to share this possibility.

* * *

The next morning, Ranma and the girls broke camp. They agreed the first matter of business was to make some money. As for how, Ranma was led to this place called the guild. Apparently it was an agency that you signed up with and took missions to go out to either kill monsters or gather materials. There were also other jobs available, but those were for career members who worked for the government. Ranma actually liked the idea of being able to make honest money by putting her skills to the test and doing a good service for the community. It made things much easier at least. There was one thing she did not like at first however. The killing part seemed a bit harsh until it was explained that the monsters of this world weren't quite alive. They weren't sure where they came from exactly, but the fact was that monsters didn't even leave a corpse. They simple dispersed into energy and would leave things behind that were formed from said energy. It was strange to hear about, but Ranma figured she'd figure it out later. Once they got to the guild in Lowee, there was a bit of trouble however.

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave miss. I doubt anyone here would want to deal with you after how you humiliated our goddess," the male registrar ordered sternly.

"Seriously, that mess yesterday was a total misunderstanding! Plus, I think I got off worse on the humiliation front than her," Ranma spat out as she pointed to her chest. This immediately caused the man to blush and suffer a nosebleed. He quickly recovered and caved in handing Ranma the registration forms. Sometime later after a few more similar arguments, they were about to head out to do some missions when all three of them heard their stomachs growl. At this, Ranma said she'd take care of it. Ten minutes later, she returned to the girls with various wares to eat. When they asked if she stole it, she smiled and said," Nah, the food vendors gave them to me for free!"

They just looked confused at this. Ranma just ate her share before they finally made their way out to complete some missions. They spent the rest of their day completing these tasks. Ranma was surprised at how strong the girls were. Cyberconnect2 handled herself well enough and had decent speed. Falcom was similar in that she seemed to be powerful in her own way. What bothered Ranma was that they seemed to have powers far surpassing their apparent skills. Falcom wasn't as bad in this regard, but the fact was that somehow these girls seemed to have gained power without training properly. It was like that with Tekken too now that she thought about it. Tekken had packed a lot of power too for that matter and had shown little interest in forms and more in conditioning. It was a strange thing to consider. The goddesses were the only ones that showed skill and power as far as she could tell. There had to be something more. As Ranma continued fighting and watching her companions, she cast out her senses to get a better grasp on the matter. That's when she got her answer. This world was seeping power into those who made the effort to gain it. They even were further rewarded by absorbing the disbursing energies of the monsters they killed. It then made sense; conditioning oneself to fight was actually easier in this world. The only ones who had refined skills were those who bothered and/or those who used a weapon or fighting style that required such. After all if you had to choose between the easy way and the hard way to do something, you might as well do it the easy way to save time and effort. Falcom seemed to be an exception to a degree with her training regiment, but even she showed signs of this trend. Blanc, however, had fought very well yesterday. She was like a super Ryoga in how she was conditioned, but she fought with that axe as if she'd been in constant battle for centuries. It made sense in a way that an immortal would develop skills like that over time, but Ranma remembered Saffron had fought only with overwhelming power. Shouldn't they have similar overwhelming powers, and if so, why did they need to develop those skills. These monsters did not seem like the kind of opponents those skills were meant for. Then she remembered that Neptune had been beat up yesterday when Ranma first came to and she had no scratch marks. Ranma hoped that she was wrong about this matter, but if not, she hoped this was just old history. However, she did notice one other thing about the energy from these monsters. She felt something like ki. There was something that colored the energy like the emotions used to control ki for attacks. What really bothered her about it was how it felt a little like the shishi hokodan.

As the day drew on and Ranma puzzled over these questions while questing, Ranma couldn't help but feel like she had forgotten something.

* * *

"Ok, where is she," Blanc demanded in mild exasperation as she waited with everyone else in Planeptune at the conference.

"Yeah, this is boring, I want to go play with Rom!" Ram whined.

"With Nepgear too," Rom added.

"Hey, what about me?" Uni demanded.

"Oh my goodness," Nepgear uttered. Neptune sighed.

"I know it's boring. Heck, I want to go hang out and have fun too, but this is something that concerns saving the world, 'dems the breaks kiddos," Neptune consoled then gave her usual goofy grin," But I do think we should just get this started without Ranma since it's looking like she won't be around till tomorrow."

Vert seemed a little saddened by this. She seemed to have been looking forward to seeing Ranma again. Blanc just groaned helplessly. Ranma had done a number on her emotions it seemed. As for Noire, she seemed to get agitated at first until she seemed to think about something.

"Hey Neptune," She began suspiciously," You did make sure to give them the money they'd need for travel expenses and such, right?"

All eyes turned to Neptune as she stared blankly for a moment trying to remember if she had," Uh, MAGES., did we do that?"

MAGES. groaned and shook her head. The emotions varied greatly from pity(Compa), to annoyance(most), some anger(Vert and Noire), and even some resignation (Blanc and Histoire). Noire was the first to 'speak'," Neptune, you idiot! Now you've gone and wasted our time! Time, I might add, that I could have been using to bring my shares back up!"

"Indeed, this blunder has left me feeling something akin to what I feel whenever I here a last minute announcement that something I preordered got canceled," Vert muttered with a little venom.

"Oh Neptune," groaned Histoire and Blanc in unison causing some confusion. Fact was that Blanc was just too drained at this point or so it seemed. _Leave it to Neptune to forget something like this._ A certain tome thought after she groaned.

"Well, we might as well do some discussions on our own," Nepgear suggested timidly. Vert smiled to her and nodded in agreement.

"Yes, while it is true my Ranma is going to be pivotal to whatever our new plan is, we might as well get some groundwork done," the goddess of green pastures brought up.

"Sounds good, but first Vert. What's your angle with Ranma?" Neptune asked.

"Why whatever do you mean," Vert asked with her usual dignified façade. Her eyes however had a knowing look to them.

"Ya know what I mean. Brother or sister?" Neptune asked.

"Both actually," Vert answered without a thought. She was already drifting off into lala land.

"Ahem! Now that that's out of the way, I believe I might have some insight into the story I've heard so far about this Ranma," Blanc intervened," I heard she accused you of bringing her here Histoire. Is that true?"

"Well yes, she did accuse me, but I swear I had never met her before then," Histoire swore desperately. Blanc nodded in understanding.

"I believe your story, but I think that Ranma was correct in her accusation," Blanc continued.

"Now just wait a nepping minute. What's that supposed to mean?" Neptune interrupted.

"It means you should stay quiet and wait for me to finish," Blanc scolded calmly before going on," Now where was I? Oh yes, what I mean is I'm certain that who Ranma saw was the future you. Though we can't confirm it, this would make the most sense for this situation."

"And how does a time travelling Histoire make so much sense?" Vert asked as she jiggled her breasts on purpose.

"For starter it involves our OS, thunder tits," Blanc retorted. Only nine people in the room knew what that term meant: The CPUs, candidates, and Histoire. Everyone else looked confused at the term. Its meaning was not the same as the term they were used to. OS when used in reference to a goddess meant Omnipotent System. It did not mean true omnipotence but a higher level perception of reality. The easiest way to look at it was that this was what allowed them to perceive and break the fourth wall. It was also this power that made them talk in terms of games and stories in real life. However, this was never entirely accurate as it was up to one's ability to interpret. This meant using the right "perspective" for the situation. True that those who spend time with a goddess might pick up the talk, but only a goddess or tome is fully aware of the concept behind it. The mention of this shut Vert up from continuing their usual verbal spar," Besides thinking of it in a logical sense, Ranma's arrival happened at a very precise and extremely pivotal moment. Add in Ranma's side of it and our Histoire not knowing Ranma, it makes sense that the future Histoire saw it necessary to act. The problem is that according to what I know with OS this could be good or bad depending on whether the future Histoire had been compromised or not. I was hoping to have Ranma here to question further on this to help clear it up."

Blanc may not like this new arrival, but she sorely hoped that Ranma's presence was for a good reason otherwise the world might already be doomed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I think we know the drill about who owns these series (here's a clue, totally not me)**

 **AN- I am sorry for the delays in getting this chapter done, but I'll be honest. I HATED this chapter. Unfortunately I found myself once again having to give more exposition and doing more set up for things I have planned for chapters to come. I will apologize to anyone that does not enjoy this chapter, but I honestly got tired of trying to _spruce_ it up. Also, I was admittedly so sick of this chapter that I might have missed quite a bit in the editing stage... I cannot say sorry enough for this. Also, sorry if certain moments and characters seem a little ooc... this chapter really did not agree with me no matter how much I tried to rewrite it. On a side note, it might be possible this is the result of writer's block as well. Either way, this sucked for me to write, but I really want to get to the stuff I have planned and have been writing this story for. Now with all of that out of the way...enjoy**

 **AN2- Ok, I know this should have been better addressed than this, but I honestly would probably have to rewrite the chapter and risk continuity errors. As such, I only addressed a couple of things and only a little. Sorry for those of you who were expecting better Revisions. I may come back to do more sometime, but I really don't want to run certain risks for plans later down the road.**

* * *

"Wow," Neptune intoned before collecting herself and pushing the discussion along," So besides Blanc's advancing the plot, anything else?"

"We still need to talk about the matter of what options are now available since we no longer have that dreadful weapon," Vert pointed out," I heard that you all decided to abandon the shares plan as well."

"Yes, it would seem that it became pointless after all," Nepgear answered," the truth of the matter is that it doesn't matter how much of the shares are gathered, it doesn't make us stronger as a group. In the end, it turns out that just fighting together should be enough."

"But we don't have the power as a group. What makes you think that has changed? All that tells us is we need to find another way," Blanc pointed out.

"She's right, we need another option. As it is we can't take the Deity of Sin out," Noire acknowledged in a thoughtful tone.

"If I may intervene, I think I might have an answer soon, but I need to talk to Ranma as it involves her," Histoire spoke up.

"Really, how soon?" Neptune asked. The others nodded in curiosity.

"I started looking into this matter two days ago. I should be finished by tomorrow, but I'm afraid that's all I'm able to say on the matter," Histoire finished politely," As such I suggest we bring this to a close for the night while I go to continue my research. Good night everyone."

With that said, the tome her way out of the room. The others stayed for a bit to handle personal matters, but quickly left the room themselves to just hang out and call it a night.

* * *

After turning in their quests and selling off the extra items they found, Ranma's first business that evening had been to hit a clothes store before it closed to get a hold of some decent clothes that wouldn't look ridiculous on her male side. As luck would have it, she found a close approximation of her usual Chinese silks. Shortly after gaining the new outfit, she went off to get some hot water. _Man, after a day like that, it feels good ta be a guy again!_ Now the three of them were looking at another problem however. They had all forgotten about the need to get to the conference that day. As such, Ranma just shrugged and said they'll just make it tomorrow. That would be when another annoyance cropped up.

They only had enough money left over after Ranma's purchase to afford a single room and for the night. This led to the problem at hand as they entered the room.

"Hey Ranma, you wouldn't mind changing again for the night would?" Cyberconnect2 asked nervously.

"Huh? But I but I just did earlier," Ranma stated in confusion.

"Um, she meant your gender Ranma," Falcom supplied. She also seemed a little bother by something. That was when Ranma realized it. He had spent so much time hanging around them as a girl that he had gotten used to it. He forgot his current gender and the situation they were in. He let out a groan as he went to the bathroom to "change". When she came back, she sat down on her bed facing the others.

"Better?" She asked to which she got nods," Good, but just so you know, I'm a guy and I plan to stay that way. That means when we leave tomorrow I'm planning and doing so as a guy."

The girls agreed to this declaration before getting into their own beds. After a moment, Falcom decided to press Ranma for some detail about her life.

"I don't mean to push you or anything, but what was your life like back home?" She asked to which Ranma shrugged.

"It was alright I guess. It was never really boring. Only real issue is the fiancé issue ," She offered to the inquisitive, red headed swordswoman.

"Really? I thought it had to be bad with how you kept dodging the subject," Falcom pressed on.

"It's not that. It's just I prefer to keep to myself I guess. I didn't really have that many people my age to talk to growing up so I just got used to keeping to myself, ya know?" Ranma answered indifferently," Anyways, I think I'll call it a night here. We need to get up early tomorrow and drop by the guild to pick up some quests we can do along the way to Planeptune."

And so they went to sleep that night.

* * *

The following morning, a now male Ranma and girls set out on their journey to Planeptune. Once again they had to drop by the guild, but made sure to pick up quests that were along the way this time. As they were about to set out once more, they decided to go and get some food to start off the morning. Hearing this Ranma quickly found some water again and insisted to handle getting the food while taking the remainder of the money. This made the girls nervous again as they watched the pig tailed protagonist head off towards different part of the city than the previous day. This time, Cyberconnect2 decided to go and see just how Ranma was getting the food for nearly nothing without stealing. She and Falcom followed behind after waiting a little so as not to alert the sometimes girl of their presence. Once they rounded the corner, they could not believe what they saw. Ranma was flirting about, and not just a little, she was literally going from stand to stand and acting like a ridiculously cutesy girl as she swindled food from the various stalls in the area. Cyberconnect2 looked to Falcom. Their eyes met and they nodded in agreement. They backed behind the corner and waited for their shameless _friend_ to come. They didn't have to wait long as Ranma rounded the corner to meet a glaring Falcom and a smirking Cyberconnect2 with something akin to an evil glint in her eyes. She froze as she realized they had seen her shameless display.

"Ranma, would you mind explaining to me why you're acting so shamelessly as a girl?" Falcom asked in an obviously offended tone.

"Uh well, when you live off the road like I have most my life, you learn to get what you can when you can to survive," Ranma answered nervously.

"Oh really? And where did you get those amazing skills of seduction on the rode if you are in fact a guy," Cyberconnect2 asked while learning forward to stare into Ranma's eyes from not even two inches away.

"Umm," Ranma began nervously," I thought that if I was going to be stuck as a girl sometimes, I might as well take advantage of it?"

"Seriously? Is that all you think a girl is useful for?" Falcom started once more offended," Looking good and cheating men!"

"Hey, it works and it's not my fault if those guys are idiots!" Ranma tried to defend herself," They deserve it!"

The two real girls just stared for a moment. Did they just hear a guy make that argument? That sounded more like the words of a seducing con artist! Then Cyberconnect2 began to chuckle.

"Oh I get it! You actually like being a shameless," she joked darkly. Ranma's brain shutdown for a second as it tried to put the accusation together in context to her.

"Hey! I'm a guy dammit!" she spat out," plus I don't see how me taking adv-"

Ranma stopped as her brain finally put the last pieces together. Her actions had literally been as shameless as they said with the same intent and she had honestly never thought twice about the repercussion of her swindling food. Ranma paled as she began to get sick. This caught the other two's attention and it took a moment to realize the cause.

"You seriously never even thought of it that way?" Cyberconnect2 asked. Ranma shook her head.

"No, I mean sure I've been called shameless before and stuff, but I always just chucked that to being a guy like when I got lectured on my lack of feminine modesty," Ranma answered," Here, take all of this. I'm not hungry anymore… I need some hot water"

After handing over the food, Ranma left to be a man again. She had never realized that she had fallen into such a trap. Had she really allowed the curse to turn her into such? Ranma just suppressed the cringe. About five minutes later, he returned and apologized. After that episode was over, they set off. Sadly Ranma had not been around for the conversation held in his absence. If he had, he would be running about now…

In any case, the rest of the morning went on like normal. It seemed the girls had gotten over the events and put it behind them. That was actually a little shocking as the girls back home wouldn't have dropped a matter that had offended them without some retaliation. _Huh, that_ _'_ _s_ _weird_ _. Why was there a crack of thunder in broad daylight?_ Ranma just shrugged and continued traveling. Just like yesterday, he made sure to sense the strange flows of energy and figure out more about it. One of the things he discovered was that he was now absorbing the energy of this world as well. Before it had ebbed away from him and flowed to the others. Now he was also receiving some. Not much compared to the others however. He did learn a few things though. The monster energy was filled with negative emotions just as he thought and feared, but to his surprise, the energy actually became purified and fused with the body's natural flows. Even now Ranma was feeling a little stronger. It was an interesting revelation to the martial artist. The only thing that really bothered her about it was that it amounted to a free power up in her view. Admittedly this seemed to be a part of natural life in this world and was unavoidable as far as he could tell, but that did not change the fact that Ranma felt guilty over the matter. In the end, Ranma comforted himself with the thought of doing extensive training upon his return home to fully master this growth.

* * *

Back in Planeptune, Nepgear was spending her time playing with the other candidates. They were playing a party game from Lowee. It starred their mascot plumber and such in a fun little game filled with mini games and such for casual fun. However, Nepgear wasn't focused on the game at the moment as she considered her place in the story. After hearing about the idea that Ranma was sent from the future to stop whatever had happened, she had remembered exactly what was about to happen. She had spent the rest of the night considering the implications of what would have happened had Ranma not arrived. She did not like the answer. The goddesses of Lastation would have certainly fallen. If that wasn't enough, the way the others had acted when they thought as much had showed what would have happened. Nepgear and Neptune would most likely be the last goddesses in Gamindustri. That meant that the world would have been ruled over by her big sister. While she admitted that she would never want to harm the others, she also had to wonder what it meant that someone from the future sought to change this. Neptune may not be what one might call diligent, but she just couldn't seem to see how it could have gotten bad enough for it to be necessary.

This of course meant that the future Histoire had to have been compromised. After all, her big sister would never allow all of Gamindustri to fall into such a sorrow state and especially with her there to support Neptune. Ranma must have been sent back with a dark agenda. Ranma might not even be aware of whatever it was, but that didn't mean that he could not become their enemy in time. Now that she thought of it, Ranma was male half the time. She remembered a talk from her sister about how she need to be weary of men since they tended to fall into two categories. They were either supporting cast of no consequence or the were villains with weird misguided agendas. Nepgear had to be prepared for the troubles to come. She had to be ready to take up the mantle of protagonist once more and prevent Ranma from causing trouble when the time for him to show his true colors arrived. Nepgear would be watching.

"Hey Nepgear, pay attention! It's been your turn dummy!" Cried Ram as she poked the purple sister. Well, that will have to wait. Now she had time play with the others, but after that, she would be watching.

Such as it was with all of them playing that no one noticed a new announcement chiming in with a new humiliating message for Nepgear.

* * *

As the day drew on, Ranma's group made it to Planeptune in short order. It was strange to him how this world seemed to be so small. The cities were large and Ranma could have sworn he saw other towns and such, but it seemed that they passed them fairly quickly. Even now as he walked into the futuristic Planeptune, he could not help but notice that travel even within a city of its size was short. When he brought this up with his traveling companions, they seemed to not know and only had just then realized that they had somehow been traveling paths that should have taken weeks and more within a day. The way they thought about it bothered Ranma. Something had been messing with their perception of their own world. Ranma seemed to be unaffected, but only because he did not know much about the world and only realized this from observation and his growing knowledge of this world from his talks with the adventurous Falcom. How could someone that was a world renowned adventurer not notice something so different about their world? It wasn't that it had always been like this either as she recalled her trips from before meeting the goddesses and becoming involved in this battle to save the world.

It made sense for the goddesses to do something like this to help mobilize their forces to fight off such a threat, but why hide this from their allies. Even more strange was if they have the power to alter their world like this, how could anything be a threat to them? He decided that this would have to be addressed when they met.

They soon arrived at the Basilicom and were led to Neptune's home. Along the way however, Histoire stopped them and led Ranma alone to a private room. Something strange was going on and Ranma wanted answers. He was willing to play along for the time being at any rate if it let him talk to this Histoire. Once the door to the private room was sealed, Ranma looked about and noted it was high tech looking like the city but was mostly empty say for a couple of comfortable chairs and a table. He took a seat and waited for the Oracle of this nation to speak. It seemed to be three minutes before she spoke. In those three minutes she seemed to study something about Ranma closely.

"I know this may seem odd, and I will admit it is, but this is necessary as what I wish to talk to you about is important," She began with all of her usual courtesy," There is a problem regarding your presence here-"

"What do you mean? Are ya saying that I am gonna ruin some plan of yours or somethin'?" Ranma growled out interrupting the tome.

"No, this problem is about you. In all honesty, I am thankful for you being here so far. You have given us hope, but I'm afraid that, if you continue to aid us, you be forced to pay a price," Histoire tried once more to explain.

"Price, what price?" Ranma asked confused but annoyed at the fact that nothing ever seemed to be easy or simple in his life.

Histoire took a deep breath before going into the details," I looked into your being when you first arrived and began to study my book to find some form of information that would help me better understand your existence here. You see, what I found when I looked at you was that your soul has incredible amounts of chaos coming from it. Usually someone with so much would have died a long time ago," Ranma grunted at this and muttered something about his life," I see you understand why at least. In any case, that was only the first thing I noticed. The other was that there was a powerful magical force that had anchored itself to your soul. I am still not fully certain the full depths or reason for the magic itself. If it was a part of your curse, something has altered it drastically-"

"What'dya mean? I'm going to be stuck as a girl or somethin'!?" Ranma cried out in alarm. The thought scared him. There was no way he was letting that happen if he had a say in the matter. Histoire coughed and cleared her throat to get Ranma to settle down

Once she saw him do so, she continued," I do not know everything about what is going on with it, but I can say that this magic seems to be unstable. It is even now acting wildly and is causing changes to you."

"Changes? Like what?" the martial artist asked aloud before he remembered the energy and such," Wait, you mean like how that dark energy from monsters is now entering me like the others?"

Histoire nodded to this," Yes, your ability to now collect what the goddesses refer to as xp and gain levels is one of the changes you have undergone. Since you were originally from another world, you were not part of this system. While it is true that this change is normal, it is occurring far too slowly."

"So isn't that a good thing?" Ranma shrugged.

"I had originally thought so as well and that seems to be true to an extent, but if it only stopped there, we would not have this problem. Ranma, that power and the system are in conflict right now thanks to the chaos within you and your wish to return home. These factors are slowing and resisting your ability to be adapted to this dimension. Even so, you are slowly becoming a part of it and may soon be anchored to it with the amount of force this dimension's system is putting into adapting you. While it won't mean that it is impossible to return you home if you stay, the longer you remain here the harder it will be in the end as more of force is focused on your conversion to this system," Histoire finished sadly," On a happier note, I do not believe you're in any immediate danger of becoming stuck in one form."

"So you mean that I have to choose either to go home now and leave you all to fend for yourselves or stick around to help and have a harder time returning to Akane," Ranma reasoned while releasing a sigh of relief.

"Well, that is one way to put it," Histoire answered with a sweat drop.

"Well, I'll stay to help out. After all, it's the martial artist's code to defend the weak," Ranma decided with a smirk," Plus, I figure we'll have this solved soon anyway. So assuming we beat this Deity of Sin in the next day or so, how long will it take ya to get me home?"

The tome froze at this and made a sudden realization. She honestly did not know. She had spent her free time these past three days doing the research on Ranma's existence. There was more involved with what was happening to Ranma, but she decided it was for the best that Ranma not became aware of the fact that his chaos was warping the Digital Conversion Procedure. Truth be known, she was not sure how Ranma wwas going to be converted. She knew what would happen as a result of the processes involved, but now how they would work on someone with so much chaos. She had forgotten to research how to send someone to another dimension. She laughed a little nervously," I honestly don't know. I should have the answer to that soon though."

Ranma just grunted in annoyance. _Figures, I didn_ _'_ _t have a choice in the first place. Oh well, at least I was ASKED this time._ With that over and done with, the tome led Ranma to the living quarters of the massive structure to meet up with the others.

* * *

Meanwhile, Falcom and Cyberconnect2 had been brought straight to the rest of the group. Once they were there, they apologized for their lateness and went about sharing their journey. When they got to the incident from this morning, the reactions were varied. A number of them did not look happy however, but Vert seemed to be off in her own world imagining Ranma acting like that with her.

"The thing is Falcom and I don't think Ranma is entirely at fault on this. He seems to be used to desperate times on the road of his world and lacks personal understanding of femininity including a grasp on modesty," Cyberconnect2 offered in Ranma's defence as they finished the tale. A number of those present softened a little at the mention of Ranma's reaction to realizing what he was acting like. Most of the girls actually showed some concern over the last statement. Nepgear seemed to show no change through out all of this as if she was focused on something.

"Wait, what desperation would someone like Ranma who is so powerful, and from what I understand, he comes from a family of fighters," IF questioned thoughtfully," All they'd have to do is go to their world's guild and fight monsters. They'd be able to train and make money."

Falcom shook her head at this before answering," As far as I can tell from what little I could gather, either his father is no good or they don't have anything like a guild. In fact I know they don't have monsters like our world does because Ranma was against killing them at first. His world seems very different from our own."

"I see, it would be harder for freelancers like them to make money if that's the case," IF nodded thoughtfully.

"So Ranma's life sucks? I don't know, while he didn't seem to open up, he didn't come off as the downer type. He's too upbeat to be a Shin-" Neptune was promptly cut off by Noire.

"Yeah _anyways_ , besides that last part, you mind explaining that," Noire tried to steer the conversation from mentioning THAT depressing character.

"Well, he didn't seem to hate his life. It's just that he spent so much time alone with his father training that he seems to not know certain things. As far as he's concerned he's had an ok life except for the current mess his father got him into with those girls back home," Cyberconnect2 provided while looking at Neptune wondering what she was going to say.

"Yeah, so that brings us to something I was hoping you would all help us with," Falcom picked up the story," We were wondering if you guys would be interested in helping get Ranma to learn more about such matters. You know, getting him to learn about and respect that side of himself."

To this they got a round of nods from almost everyone except Nepgear and MAGES. who were both in deep thought for different reasons. Nepgear at the moment was considering how this new information fit in with her earlier reasoning about Ranma. MAGES. however was considering whether or not to offer some of her skills to this little scheme. After a moment, she finally came to a decision and sighed," I may be able to do something to aid in your ill conceived venture, but I want you all to be absolutely certain that this is a good idea. Please consider the fact that Ranma won't be here for long and that this may antagonize him for the rest of his stay."

Before anymore talk could be had, the door to the room opened. Ranma and Histoire entered the room. Histoire seemed to be nervous for some reason. Ranma, on the other hand, had a thoughtful expression.

"Hey there Ranma! What did you have to talk with Histy about?" Neptune greeted, then she slapped a fist into her open palm as an idea occurred and she leered suggestively at the pig tailed martial artist with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes," Oh, I bet I know, Histy was trying to convince you to stay here because she confessed her undying love to you!" Then her expression changed to one of goofy seriousness as Ranma became confused and Histoire's face blushed, whether it was embarrassment or frustration only time would tell," I'm shocked Histy, how could you go behind my back like that-"

"No, please say it isn't so!" Vert cried as she rushed past the purple goddess as she shoved her out of the way to Histoire. She stared intently at the tome before the tome shook her head. The voluptuous goddess let out a sigh with the usual result for said assets," Oh thank goodness, it would be unfortunate if that were the case."

Ignoring the comedy routine in the making, Blanc walked up to Ranma with a blank expression and an intense look in her eyes. She had wondered how this moment would play out and was now thankful that Ranma had given her the extra day to think and adjust. Ranma was nervous as he remembered the circumstances of their last meeting and was wondering if he should be making a run for it or not soon. Just to be safe, he was already scanning for escape routes withing his periphery without taking his eyes away from the white goddess.

"I am not happy to see you again due to what happened last time, but before I can decide what do next, I wish to know the real reason behind your behavior back then," Blanc asked calmly. Ranma was not sure how to respond. If anything from his past was to go by, they would just laugh at him when they found out his fear. He did not like the idea of being thought of as a joke. However, he had no idea of how to explain the Nekoken without touching on his fear with cats. Just then, a now recovered Neptune was standing and rubbing her backside from her fall.

"Yeah, and why did you attack Puchiko for that matter?" She added curiously. Ranma was cornered on the matter and he knew it. Plus at the very least since they've seen the Nekoken, they might actually make an effort to keep the demons away from him. Taking one deep breath as the others started staring expectantly, Ranma sighed and made his decision.

"I hate talking about this, but I guess, if it will clear things up, I'll tell ya," Ranma began," The simplest way to put it is that one of Pop's dumber idea's in training me was the art of Nekoken. Long story short, it resulted in me bein' afraid of c-cats."

Of all of the things Blanc was expecting, that was not one of them," Huh? Anyways, what does a fear of cats have to do with-" she suddenly remembered the details from that day. Broccoli and Gema had cat like appearances and Ranma had been chasing Broccoli and acting like a cat back then.

"Whenever I become too afraid, I lose control and fall into the Nekoken. I become a c-cat in mind," Ranma provided for the others. Everyone became a bit curious at this. What kind of training results in that? The reactions were mixed at best and no one laughed to Ranma's surprise. Instead there were a couple of sighs and groans. Also, Vert had a look of pity and was now trying to comfort Ranma. Of course, he was having none of that and doing his level best to keep some distance. Something about his senses told him to be very weary of her. After a moment of this and Vert settling down a bit dejectedly with Nepgear trying to comfort her, things got back to being more serious.

"So now that we have all the usual antics out of the way," Noire began," I think it's time we got down to business. What are we going to do about the Deity of Sin?"

"Before that, I have another question for Ranma," Blanc pressed," Could you recount exactly what you remember from when you were sent to this world?"

After Ranma retold the incident with Blanc pushing for details, the white goddess seemed to relax and nod as if she were content with the answers she got. Once that was out of the way, Noire asked once more about what they were going to do about ASIC and their plans to destroy the world.

Ranma scratched his pig tail before suggesting" I dunno, beat her to a pulp? I mean if this thing really is gonna blow us all up, we should just stop it. Is there a reason you guys can't?"

"Really? You think it's that simple? We may be goddesses and all, but that thing is powerful. There's a reason we went looking for the weapon you broke ya know," Noire shot back.

"Cool it Noire, I'm sure Ranma just needs more details before coming up with a plan to beat this baddie!" Neptune stepped in. Ranm just shrugged.

"I think we should just go in and fight it. If things turn bad then we find a way to buy us some time to retreat and plan our next fight around whatever we learn," Ranma suggested once more," It's one of the teachings of the Anything Goes School."

While Noire and some of the others were not quite as happy about the plan, they all agreed and went about planning and preparing for their upcoming encounter to come. They all hoped Ranma was right.

* * *

That night in a special room within the Planeptune Basilicom, Nepgear had a private meeting with MAGES. in her lab.

"Why did you ask me to come here Nepgear?" the mage asked.

"Well, I wanted to know more about what you were talking about earlier before Ranma arrived," Nepgear ansered.

"Honestly, I was just going to suggest something I had no intention of doing to get them to think again before going off on some crusade," she explained," Unfortunately Ranma showed up too soon. I believe I overheard talk of operation Girl Power before you took me here."

"I see," Nepgear seemed a little dejected at this. She then carried a small talk with the mage until she decided to leave to turn in. This left Nepgear alone in the lab. In truth, she was hoping the mage had something special to offer to aid her in her mission to prevent Ranma from bringing about the end. While she was curious why Blanc was so accepting of the matter now, she refused to believe there was not some ulterior motive involved as she still refused to believe things could have gone so badly under Neptune's rule. She also did not like the current plan of Ranma's and felt that this was all a set up of some sort. She spent the night making a special device she hoped would make a difference in the battle to come.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: same old same old. You get the drill.

AN: Hi there... sorry for the delay on this one. I was not expecting this one to take so long to get out, but you can blame that on Stardock finally putting GC3 on sale...OMT syndrome is a horrible thing. Sadly that was not the only thing that caused this. I have also been busy putting together some stuff for a D&D game I'll be running at a local game cafe. Also just been generally busy. That being said. I AM SORRY. Now on to the actual notes of interest for this chapter. First and foremost, I do not care if this is not how things are supposed to happen and what not. I am changing things up for this. The reason is because I want this arc to finally be over so I can move onto the main plot of this story and the fact that my memory on what happened at the end sucks. I could do the research, but that is more time spent on delying this release and possibly further expanding an arc that was originally planned to be over by now... That's right, this had been nothing but one big introductory arc. On another note, remember how I said I was not able to play re birth 2 since it and my vita were stolen? Well, I just found out that Red was apparently in that game... So apologies for not having her in the group. I will not be adding her to the group now nor in the revisions I have planned after this arc is done... Also regarding the end of this chapter, no comments. You'll just have to wait for the next one and I do not care if I ran off a cliff again, the next part of the scene is going to be a bit long and I plan to make it part of the next chapter for the sake of maintaining consistency in chapter length. Now that that's said, on with the show.

* * *

It was the following morning that they began their journey to face off against the Deity of Sin. As Ranma and the girls made their way to the graveyard, he remembered that something was not right. He had meant to ask about how strange it was that they could travel so quickly from place to place. When the thought occurred to him he stopped in place, tilted his head and held his chin. This pose caught the attention of the others.

"What's up Ranma? Is our new harem master coming up with a plan to woo us goddesses?" Neptune asked playfully as the others just deadpanned at her. Well, all say for Nepgear, but no one noticed the look she gave the only man of the group. Ranma glared at the purple goddess for a second before groaning in annoyance.

"Nah, not to insult ya or anything, but I have enough trouble back home as it is," He anwered before taking a thoughtful pose," I was just wondering about why it seems that this world is so small. I mean I know the distances I can see, but it seems we travel them way too quickly if ya get what I mean."

The Makers on the exception of the two who had traveled with Ranma were taken by surprised and all of them looked to the goddesses in confusion. The goddesses themselves seemed just as surprised but for different reasons if the lack of confusion in their expressions were anything to go by. Vert seemed to be thoughtful. Blanc and Nepgear seemed to be suspicious. The twins were in awe. The black sisters just seemed stun.

"H-how-"Noire began in shock as the ever "helpful" Neptune interrupted her excitedly.

"Woah, you can actually notice that!?" She asked. The pig tailed martial artist nodded in confirmation," Wow, and here I was thinking I wouldn't have to explain this to the audience after all…" the CPUs groaned at her usual nature," Anyways the fact is whenever there is a crisis that involves the goddesses needing to protect the world or something like that, the world becomes a game that we are the characters to. Well more of a game anyways. While you can always gain xp and level up, the rate at which you can get it changes and other parts of the world change as well. These changes, however, only affect the main character's party and the goddesses to some extent. Things like the leveling buffage is party only while stuff like traveling extends to goddesses regardless of if their in the group or not. It's just reality giving a helping hand. You get it?" The other CPUs were shocked that Neptune had managed an exposition and were staring at their purple hair companion in shock," What, I'm a Nep of my word, now excuse my while I take a nap, exposition is tiring…" She then promptly found a good spot along the road and began said nap.

"Umm, the hell was all that?" Ranma asked completely confused. He remembered that it was mentioned by Histoire that the power that made everyone stronger in this world was called XP and that growing stronger from it was called leveling up, but he had no idea what this crazy game talk had to do with anything. Seriously, what did stuff like dice, cards, and toys have to do with all of this. The others gave him something of an odd look," I remember the xp and leveling terms from talking to Histoire yesterday, but I don't get how cards, toys, or children playing have anything to do with this."

"You mean to tell me you don't know what a videogame game is?!" Noire asked incredulously," You know the ones you play on TV?"

"Hmm, I remember one kid who played something like that. Brat was was lazy as hell…" Ranma tried to remember the game itself," But what does a game like that have to do with all of this?"

"Ranma, would you mind describing the game and what it was played on," Blanc asked calmly with a slight undertone of frustration in her voice. That would be when Ranma explained what was considered an old top down space shooter on one of Lowee's old systems," Ranma, that was an old and highly outdated console in this world. Also, there are many types of games for those systems."

And so it was that Neptune had a nice hour long nap as everyone sat down and tried to explain the concepts of videogames and, in particular, what an RPG was. They were all dumbfounded by just how little Ranma seemed to understand about such things. Everyone in Gamindustri knew about this stuff. However, they quickly came to an understanding on this when Ranma revealed that his world was far behind their own in technology and magic. By the end of it all, the group was annoyed with Neptune for having managed to escape the bulk of the explanations.

As the group set out once more, MAGES. asked the question that had been on the makers' minds since this scene began," Why is it that we never noticed this change?"

"Aw, and here I was hoping to avoid doing anymore of this," Neptune muttered as she ignored the glares she was receiving," Oh well, fact is that the system changes are supposed to only be noticed by the main character and goddesses. Well, I'm guessing main character here since Ranma is the first main character that isn't a goddess that I know of."

This seemed to satisfy most of the group and Ranma just shrugged. They finally set out once more for the Graveyard. It was a short journey. Upon arriving, the group got to work clearing a path through the various monsters. As they fought, Ranma could not help but notice that there were a number of strange things playing about his senses. He could sense the hint of various powers playing about him as they fought through. He couldn't identify them all, but he did feel that one of the energies he sensed belonged to this deity they were to fight. At least he thought so since the darkness it contained seemed about right for some evil world destroyer.

As they made progress, the came upon a pale purple skinned woman and a weird oversized rodent. They seemed to be having a rat theme going for them by the looks of things. As far as Ranma was concerned, it could have been worse. The girl could have grabbed a cat and been a cat woman. The very thought sent a shiver down his spine.

"Oh, what do we have here? A pack of idiots walking to their deaths?" The woman spoke out as she smiled mischievously," Oh, and what's this? You girls went and got a man to fight with ya?"

"You better not be going after my dear sweet Compa-chu!" the oversized rat warned. The girls in Ranma's group all just groaned in unison.

"Oh great, it's the underling squad!" bemoaned IF.

"Hey, I have a name ya know and it's Li-" Underling began to yell.

"Underling!" The twins spoke in unison.

"They got you there Ms. Underling," Uni said.

"Yup, even the even the game has your name displayed as that," Neptune added. Underling was fuming at this point.

"I gotta say, you girls sure know how to piss her off. Has she been that much of a problem?" Ranma asked while completely ignoring the rat.

"Hey! Don't you ignore me the great Warechu! You leave Compa alone!" the rat continued.

"Yup, they're always showing up at the worse times," IF provided. Then Ranma had an idea on how to finish this fight very quickly. He then proceeded to walk up to Compa.

"Man, you've been a great help so far Compa. I just thought I'd say thanks for taking care of me since we met," he thanked her while giving the rat an evil smirk.

"Wh-wh-what!?" Warechu demanded as he saw the serene face of Compa smiling at Ranma.

"Your welcome, it's my job after all!" She said.

"Woah, the great harem master has struck again!" Neptune called out. Warechu was confused at this.

"H-h-harem master?" Warechu squeaked. Ranma didn't even miss a beat in giving off his best grin as he nodded. True he hated being called that, but it had it's uses for this situation.

"Yup, he's Ranma Saotome the greatest master of his art! Heck he even managed to get through to our dear Blanc!" the short purplette enthused. Blanc was not looking happy, but Vert grabbed her shoulder and motioned to her to keep quiet before whispering something to her. Ranma was thankful for that as that could have been a big backfire for his plan. Though, it looked like he'd have to give some apologies out after this because she was still fuming. He really did not mean for that to happen.

"How do you try and taint my sweet Compa! I'll put an end to this-chu!" The ROUS yelled out.

"Sure, that's what they all say. You and that macho underling chick can't do squat to me!" Ranma taunted as he took a stance," Guys, just leave these two to me," he told his group.

"What did you just call me?!" Underling demanded as she began to brandish an iron pipe.

"What, ya deaf too ya ugly macho chick? You're thick as a brick and built like one too!" Ranma yelled back as he took on a stance. There were no more words to be had. Underling gave off a scream of feminine fury as Warechu led the charge with an angry squeak.

* * *

"Uh, shouldn't we be helping him?" Uni asked worriedly.

"He said he's got this, so I say let it go and we can come in and save him if he can't handle it," Neptune offered.

"Do we have to?" Blanc growled out angrily. This new display of machismo by Ranma had not endeared him to her. No, quite the opposite in fact. She would be in there wailing on him too if Vert had not told her Ranma was seemed to have a plan and was purposely taunting them. That still did not help calm the brunette CPU, but she can wait. Maybe she can crush him after the handle Arfoire. In any case, the group watched as seemed to dance around the duo and never go on the offensive.

"What is he doing? Some plan! It looks like he can't even get a punch in. Master martial artist my-" Noire began only to be cut off as Ranma finally lashed out. It was a single uppercut, but it didn't even connect with anyone. That was not what cut her off. No, that would be the tornado that erupted around the martial artist and engulfed the battle field. His opponents were swept up in it and eventual thrown out of it far into the distance. Strangely enough, there seemed to be a twinkling of a star at the vanishing point. Soon after, the tornado died out to reveal an untouched Ranma still in the pose of having made the upper cut. After a second, he dropped the pose and began to dust off his hands as he made his way to the now speechless group.

"WOW! That was like totally cool!" Neptune broke out. Well, mostly speechless.

"Yeah, that was awesome!" Ram joined in. Well again, mostly-

"Very, cool!" Rom agreed. Aw, come on!

Blanc could not believe what she had seen. She was quite speechless and her anger gone for the time being. That attack just demonstrated that Ranma had been holding back in their fight. Now she was wondering why. As she thought about this, Ranma got to the group.

"Well, that's settled, and thanks for getting that woman started for me!" Ranma said.

"Started?" Most of the group mouthed at that moment.

"Yup, the Hiryu Shoten Ha needs the opponent to give off a heated battle aura or for there to be heat in the area. Anger is very good for this," Ranma answered. This disturbed Blanc even more. That was the perfect counter for her. Why didn't he use it against her!?

"Uh, wait. Why didn't you use that Hyrule whatzit against Blanc?" Neptune asked as she remembered that battle too. Blanc's expression darkened as she waited for the answer.

"Oh that?" Ranma started nonchalantly," The attack gets stronger and more powerful the more powerful or intense the emotion of the opponent. If I had tried to use that, the city would have been wrecked."

That caused Blanc to pause. He held back out of concern for her citizens. Maybe she can forgive him after all.

"So is that, like, your ultimate attack?" Neptune asked curiously. Everyone in the group was curious now. Ranma just smirked as he shook is head.

"Nah, one of my strongest? Sure! Heck, it's even used for some of my stronger moves," Ranma paused for a moment as if to contemplate something. He had to be hiding something. _What?_ _D_ _oes he have some kinda of forbidden move or something?_

After that was over, they all set out once more to go deeper into the Graveyard.

* * *

They were able to easily get through the monsters after that. Ranma could even tell he had grown stronger, but still at a slower rate than the others. He was glad for this since it meant that he was still not fully a part of this world yet. Upon finding the hulking monstrosity that was identified as Arfoire by the others, Ranma could not help but remember the Orochi. This thing's size and monstrous appearance reminded him of that ridiculous fight. He suddenly looked to Nepgear and shuddered in memory and hoped he wouldn't have to wear that get up ever again. Nepgear seemed to notice the action but seemed to ignore it for the time being.

"So this big thing is it? Well, might as well get this over with!" Ranma spoke aloud and charged forth with the others trailing behind.

"Wait, shouldn't we be, ya know, having a scene here or something where we talk about beating it before this?" Neptune asked in confusion as she followed.

"What's the point? It's right there and we need to take it down before it destroys the world. I don't see the point in wasting anymore time," with that said, Ranma fired off a double Mokotakabisha at Arfoire to which they were rewarded by a large growl and a call for annihilation. Thus the battle began. Ranma was joined on the main front by the CPUs while Nepgear and the other close range Makers went for the flanks. The others stayed back and began casting buffs on their allies before providing fire support. All of the CPUs and Candidates turned into their HDD forms. While the others kept its four arms and large mouth busy, Ranma sprang forth up to the monstrosity's head to unleash a torrent of high speed punches and finishing off the attack by using said head as a spring board to back flip off of Arfoire as he threw a double Mokotakabisha once more. What Ranma was sensing made no sense. There was too much energy emanating from this monster for the fight to be this easy, and yet he could see they were easily wrecking it. Ice came cascading down upon it from afar thanks to the twins. Other various spells seemed to over take it and Uni's fire was dealing a good bit of damage. Everyone was doing well in fact. This battle may be tougher than any this group had faced yet, but this was not the world ender he expected. Something was not right. Strangely, he could still feel that strange flow of energies other than the monster's and they were becoming even more pronounced. That's when he realized it. Those were the powers of the goddesses, but there was a problem with that. They were conflicting with each other.

As Ranma made these observations, the battle waged on. In the end it was a simple battle as it soon came to an end. The monster began to disperse, but Ranma realized something was wrong.

"Everyone, get back! This isn't over yet!" He called out. The others looked at him in shock and confusion before following his instructions. Just as they did so and Ranma made his way to them, it happened. Four beings seemed to come out of no where.

"It's the Four Felons! But we destroyed them!" Nepgear spoke fearfully.

"Doesn't matter what their called, they can be the Four Farts for all I care! Split off into groups and face each one separately, do not let them group up!" Ranma called as he charged the giant floating black and blue one with the axe.

"So, you offer yourself to be killed by CFW Judge? I'll enjoy murdering you and massacring those bitches!"

"Judge? You must suck at your job 'cause I'm gonna beat you into the ground!" Ranma yelled out as he charged the giant. By Ranma's sides were Cyberconnect2 and Falcom. They soon met the massive felon and began their fight as the two girls broke off to flank the enemy while Ranma kept him busy. As judge was about to strike them all at once with his axe, he was struck by multiple bolts of white energy followed by multiple explosions. The battle was on.

* * *

"Oh, what is this? Three lovely little girls coming to me?" CFW Trick declared joyously.

"Shut up you creep, me and Rom and gonna make you pay!" Ram Yelled out, still in HDD form.

"Disgusting!" Rom added.

"You are a real creeper-nyu" Broccoli deadpanned.

"Oh, you say that but-" Trick started once more.

"I think me and Tekken here have something to say about you creep!" MarvelousAQL yelled as she drew her sword and charged with Tekken in tow.

"Oh my, how disgusting you two are! I'll have to take care of you first before I get to my-" Trick began before getting a double mouthful of ice from two angry twins.

* * *

"Brave, are you still going to stand by Arfoire? If this goes on many will die!" Uni called out to her once respectable foe.

"Uni, I don't think he's like his old self," Nepgear stated as she stepped before her with weapon drawn. Both were in HDD still from the fight with Arfoire. Brave continued to ignore them and charged forth to kill them with his fiery brand. Cave and IF came forth to help parry the blow with their weapons.

"Now that was very mean Mr. Felon," Compa spoke as she walked forth her oversized syringe.

"Don't worry, we're here to help," 5pb called out from behind them. Uni didn't care. All she was focused on was Brave. She could still remember the respect she held for him from their last battle, and now he was behaving completely different from before.

"What is wrong with you!" she called out once more. Her only answer was Brave's furious charge.

* * *

"This is gonna be good, after all the shit I've been through lately, I get to pummel you!" Blanc growled out with the other CPUs at her side. All of the in HDD still.

"I must agree her, this will be far too enjoyable of a repayment for your scheme that nearly cost us so much," Vert chimed in.

"Thanks to you and your scheme, my sister and I nearly got killed!" yelled out Noire.

"Yes, and I am still not happy about our three years of bondage," Neptune added before all four of them charged forth at CFW Magic in righteous fury.

"I'll end this before you can beg for mercy," Was all Magic said before the fight began.

* * *

The battle against Judge should have been a simple one by Ranma's reckoning on the simple principle that the big lug was fairly simplistic in nature. Judge fought in a fairly straightforward and predictable manor. This was the only reason the fight had not ended yet as Ranma also found out Judge was also overpoweringly strong. They had yet to cause any real damage to him. In fact, MAGES. opening spell had only bought them enough time to duck under the first strike. _What is it with people_ _wielding_ _axes being ridiculously strong!_ Ranma thought as he mentally ran through his options. As he did so, he was forced to dodge another swing by the unfriendly giant and brace for the shockwave of the blow. He did not like his options at this moment. There seemed to be a powerful barrier surrounding Judge like many of the other stronger monsters of this world. The difference was that it seemed to be even stronger than Arfoire's had been. To make matters worse, he couldn't use any of his more powerful attacks without some heat. As it was now, Judge wasn't angry. He was enjoying the battle because he knew that they were far weaker than himself. Time was on the big lug's side. That's when fire seemed to engulf the monster out of nowhere. That had to be another one of MAGES.'s spells. This gave Ranma an idea.

"Yo, Mage! I have an idea; can you keep up that fire?" Ranma called out to her. She seemed confused since the spell like everything else so far had done no actual damage until she realized what Ranma was planning. She nodded and continued to do just that. Meanwhile, Falcom and Cyberconnect2, who were both fairing no better on their ends, overheard this and began to disengage. That being the case, Ranma took on the soul of ice. He began to draw in closer as he pushed the skill to the max. At the same time, he was also pushing his dodging skills to the max. The giant kept swinging his axe to and fro in an attempt to strike the pigtailed martial artist now that he was its sole focus. It was made even harder with the occasional bout of fire thrown off from each swing as MAGES. continued to use her spell. Even so, the currents were beginning to visibly mix and Ranma was now dashing to finish the spiral beneath his floating opponent. Then he unleashed it.

* * *

Once the fight against the ever disgusting CFW Trick began, they had no more easy shots like the spell the twins had literally fed him at the start of it all. Trick just sat there while lashing out with that disgustingly long tongue of his. Rom did not like this creepy monster. She absolutely hated him for what he had done to her and her sister. She wanted nothing more than to make him pay, but she and the others weren't even able to hurt him now that his guard was up. Tekken and MarvelousAQL were working on trying to break through the barrier with the twins and Broccoli providing support. Those three really wanted to keep their distance from it. As the battle drew on, Rom was draing most of her power trying to keep the others standing. They had yet to break through the barrier yet when it happened

* * *

Nepgear had managed to shove Uni out of the way of the oncoming strike before going forth to join IF and Cave on the frontline. Compa had then backed off to focus on using her healing magic to keep them up while 5pb began buffing the group. Uni stood there in shock. If Nepgear had not saved her, Brave would have killed her just then without a word. What had happened to the warrior she had learned to respect from before? She wondered as the others continued to fight around.

"Uni! Snap out of it!" Nepgear called out from the front," He's obviously not the Brave you knew! He's probably been reprogrammed or something!"

This caught Uni's attention and she finally snapped out of her thoughts. She was angry that anyone would do something to such a noble soul as Brave's. She began to open fire with everything she had and to no avail. Brave's shield was just too strong. They were barely causing damage. This was not a good situation for them. It seemed they would need the entire group just to take on one of these things. Ranma may very well have doomed them all. These were the thoughts going through her mind when it happened.

* * *

Noire went in to strike at CFW Magic once more while Blanc held her attention. Their strikes just were not doing enough damage against the barrier. What made things even worse was that she and the others didn't seem to be at their best. It was just like all those times before when they fought together. It seemed to be even more pronounced when they were all together without any support. As such, Blanc was going to have to go from the defensive and to the offensive if they were going to break through it. That meant someone else was going to have to hold Magic's attention and take the punishment. The problem there was that Blanc was also the best suited for that. They were just going to have to keep up with their strategy. It was likely a losing one considering how bad things were looking. They were only just now coming close to breaking the damn shield and they had spent something like over two thirds of their power. She went in for a coordinated strike with Vert and Neptune when it happened.

* * *

A massive tornado swept across the battlefield and threw back Ranma's allies. The fact was that even he had not expected the size of the attack and still could not understand why it was. He also was not aware of what his little stunt had done to the others. What he was aware of was that Judge's shield was now visible and cracking from the winds of the tornado. The problem was the barrier was holding well enough that it would still be up when Ranma believed the winds would die down. However, he was not disappointed. He had figured this would be the case. As such, he let go of the soul of ice within him and allowed himself to be carried upwards by the currents of his own attack. Judge was unable to do anything as he couldn't even see straight in the gale. Once Ranma maneuvered himself to the top, he unleashed a second whirlwind down the eye. The results were explosive.

* * *

Everyone was recovering from being thrown out of the whirlwind and regrouped a little ways away. They would have been thrown much farther had the goddesses not been in HDD and able to fly. In any case, they were all a little worse for wear. Nepgear could hardly believe what she was witnessing. The tornado only seemed to grow in size as if it were feeding off of something.

"Amazing! Is that what would have happened in Lowee!" Neptune, now powered down, said as she peered at the growing force of nature. It was then that all went silent and white for a moment only to be followed by a thunderous crash. When they could see once more, the tornado was gone. Ranma was standing over the remains of CFW Judge. As for the other felons, they were scattered about the field and seemed weakened. This was their chance. As such, they charged forth once more to reengage their enemies. This time the goddesses could not use their HDD as they felt drained. As they ran to Ranma's aid, Nepgear could not help but wonder how Ranma could be that powerful.

* * *

Ranma was in shock. He stood over the remains of his enemy. He didn't like to kill, but he now knew that there was a time for it thanks to his battle with Saffron. That was not why he was shocked. The truth was even he was not sure of what caused the Hiryu Korin Dan to be this destructive. He knew that those other energies were in the area and had counted on them being drawn in for the second stage of the attack, but he had not expected it to be quite so powerful. That was when he realized that he was alone with the other Felons how seemed to have taken a lot of damage from the attack. At first he was worried for the others until he saw them rushing to the field again. He quickly realized what must have happened and was not looking forward to the ear full he was bound to get after this was all over. With that thought passed, he cracked his knuckles and worked a kink out of his shoulders before taking a stance.

The fight after that was an easy one. That one attack had not only broken through the shields of the remaining three but had caused some serious damage as well. The fights against Magic and Trick had been simple ones, but when it came to brave, Uni stopped the others from delivering the final blow.

"Stop! Give me one more chance to talk with him," she called out as Nepgear was about run him through with her beam sword," Brave, please hear me!"

For a moment Brave stood there motionless as if he had already died. Then his head moved to look straight at Uni and spoke," Thank you. Now please end me before I am forced to destroy the children of the world."

Uni seemed torn at first. Then Nepgear's hand found its way to her shoulder and she gave a reassuring squeeze. Uni nodded in acceptance before hefting her rifle and firing once more. The shot broke through Brave's robotic face and sent bit of circuitry scattering behind him as he fell.

With that over, they gathered up and Neptune looked to Ranma strangely.

"Uh, did it rain or something? Why are you a girl?" She asked.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: SSDD, let's move on.

AN: And now that that is done, I'll be taking time to revise the previous chapters. Some quick notes, I'm sorry if people may feel I coughed out a little. My apologies. As for the Ranma... yes I did, and don't worry about Ranma's personality. I like the character as much as the next person. It would not be Ranma if he was confident as can be and trying to prove his masculinity (while sometimes failing to do so due to his extreme competitiveness like the "girl" competition with Tsubasa or so many other things that made it more advantage to forgo his male dignity... what was the point I was trying to make? Just kidding). As for what's to come. I have plans. Very fun ones indeed.

* * *

Ranma froze and looked down at herself to realize that she had indeed changed. As she continued to stare down, her hands began to shake in rage. That tome was going to get it. She had been causing her nothing but trouble and now the damn conversion seemed to have locked her into being a girl. Histoire said that shouldn't be the case. Ranma shouldn't have had anything to worry about. Just beat the baddy and go home when the floating book girl figured out how. Ranma was furious and each new irrational thought seemed to bringing a deeper shade of red. Her face was easily competing with her hair when she was at the point of planning how to murder the damn tome.

"Ranma!" MAGES. yelled as she shook the red haired martial artist," Listen. You're not locked! It's just magic backlash from over exposure to shares!"

"Huh!?" Ranma responded intelligently.

"As far as I can sense, your curse is still properly intact," She continued to explain," As far as I can tell when you somehow managed to use share energy in that last attack, the wild energies of the attack triggered your change. It probably has to do with the fact that was the power of the goddesses. Since both powers are female in nature, they must have resonated. I must say that was quite an amazing stunt, but I would advise against doing that again. Next time it could lock your curse permanently."

Ranma just stood there for all of five seconds before making a beeline to hide behind the farthest person from the goddesses as possible. As it turned out, that was Tekken.

"Uwah!" She screamed out and began to flail around dislodge the other martial artist from behind her. As it turns out, she was still not sure how to deal with Ranma's dual gender identity," Please don't do that!"

"And now sh-HE is terrified of us," Noire began to comment in her usual air of annoyance leading to superiority," Well, at least he should be showing us proper respect!"

"Aw, is Nowa still grumpy that Ranma landed on her?" Neptune mocked childishly.

"Hmmm, while I would enjoy a little respect, this fear is quite disconcerting," Vert added as she chewed her thumb nail in frustration. Blanc didn't added anything to the conversation verbally, but she did shrug in irritation and send Ranma a strange look before glaring at Vert and muttering something about "Thunder Tits" and being after another one. Ranma couldn't quite make that out. Nepgear was off to the side with Uni offering support for her friend and ignoring the scene. At the same time, the twins had made their way to the fearful redhead.

"Now look at her sis, she's acting like you when around new people!" Ram commented as they approached.

"Th-that's not true. I'm sure Ranma just doesn't want to be changed into a girl permanently," Rom spoke in Ranma's defense.

"That would be an improvement if you ask me!" Ram declared boisterously to which Rom quietly sighed.

"Would you like being stuck as a boy?" She asked her sister.

"No! That's why I'm saying it'd be an improvement!" Ram answered.

"Try saying that when ya been born a guy and been one most your life!" Ranma called out from behind the still frantic Tekken. Rom and Ram both giggled at this.

"Ranma, I think you only need to worry about your curse if you try to use our powers again like that. You've been around us this entire time and nothing like this happened before," Rom pointed out. As she mentioned this, Blanc could be heard having another one of her arguments with Vert over by the other goddesses. With this detail pointed out and Blanc's outburst, Ranma relaxed and stepped out from behind Tekken to stand before the twins and offering a hand.

"Thanks, I needed that. I've been locked a couple times before, and it only causes me to be more afraid of the next time," Ranma thanked them with a beaming smile.

"Anytime Ranma…chan," Rom answered with a giggle at Ranma's cringe as she laid her hand on Ranma's.

"Yeah, what are friends for Ranma-chan!" Ram added gingerly ignoring Ranma's reaction to the dreaded suffix before adding her hand on top of Rom's. They shook the pile up and down before breaking the contact.

"Well boy howdy! Now that that's out of the way, let's head home, get some pudding and have us a game-a-thon to celebrate this being over!" Neptune declared happily as she walked up to Ranma and the twins. For some reason the other CPUs grimaced as if Neptune had said something utterly stupid. It was then that a strange laugh began to fill the air from seemingly nowhere," Aw nep! I should've kept my mouth shut."

"Do you fools really think you can win over the Deity of Sin so easily? I am inevitability itself. No matter how hard or long you struggle; I shall come and destroy all you hold dear. There is no stopping me. It was fate itself that I should come forth and wipe away this world!" the voice cried out as the dark energies, that Ranma just then realized had been hanging in the air the entire time, began to combine into a new form. It was a strangely feminine and animalistic form with some semblance to an evil and twisted HDD form. All of the darkness was concentrated into this being. Ranma could tell this was going to be a harder fight and no one was ready for it. Everyone was already exhausted from the previous battles as it was. They could either retreat now or have their final battle. Ranma didn't think too hard about this decision.

"Wow! Been hanging around the loonies at the Kuno place or what? Heck, ya overgrown ugly bird brained rabbit, I bet even they could have come up with something better than that load of crap!" Ranma yelled out at Arfoire.

"How dare you! I am the ultimate embodiment of destruction, fledgling! And I shall you're your destruction most of all out of these eyesores!" Arfoire bellowed back. Everyone was now staring at Ranma with wide eyes as if she had gone nuts. The idiot most likely had doomed them all. Nepgear then quickly scurried off for some reason. Ranma didn't care. She was still in decent shape even if her ki reserves were not doing so hot. Ranma was never one to be low on confidence or to back away from a challenge. Sure he'd been known to use the Saotome Secret Technique, but that was only a temporary withdrawal with the intent of coming up with a plan before reengaging. Weakened or not, Ranma was not leaving without some info for her troubles. Plus, there was still a chance they could pull a win out of this.

"Yeah, yeah! I've heard it all before. Ranma, prepare to die! I shall smite thee! DIE ENEMY OF ALL WOMEN!" She mimicked her old foes and rivals. The last one got her odd stares even from Arfoire," Point is, many have tried and I am still here. If ya think you'll be the one then prove it ugly!" was all Ranma shouted before rushing forth at Arfoire. The others were a bit sluggish in joining the fight as even they were dumbfounded by the shear nerves of the suicidal martial artist. Even Arfoire had been so off guard that Ranma actually was able to fire off a Moko Takabisha before Arfoire's shield came up. The attack hit her dead center in the chest and sent her flying back a meter before she regained control of her flight with her wings and her shield snapping into place just before Ranma made it to her with a multitude of spells striking the shield from over the redhead's shoulders. The spells actually still did some damage to Arfoire even with the shield up. Ranma couldn't help but wonder at why the shield was weaker than the previous four they had fought. Taking notice of that and filing it away as useful information, Ranma ducked under Arfoire's raised arm as she fired off a powerful blast of her own. As the shot was fired, Ranma went in for Kachu Tenshin Amiguriken aided flurry of strikes to test out the power of the shield. Her attack was cut short however when she heard a cry of pain from behind. Ranma turned her head in worry and found that MAGES. had been Arfoire's intended target. She was now down and out for the count.

Just as the rest of the front line arrived to support Ranma, the pigtailed martial artist found herself being swatted away by a powerful blow from Arfoire's double sword. Because of the distraction, Ranma was only barely able to keep herself from being cut in half by trying to deflect the oncoming attack with a kick. It had only won her the flat side of the weapon instead of a sharp side. This sent Ranma flying back. She righted herself in mid air and winced before making her landing. That attack had broken a few ribs. As she collected herself, she set them properly and then poured some of her ki into the afflicted area to mend it enough that she could safely fight again. As she waited for the process to finish, she watched the others fight. Blanc had taken the front once more and was doing a decent job of defending and holding Arfoire's attention while the others maneuvered about her and went in for quick strikes. That's when Ranma realized why this Arfoire was so different from the others. She didn't need the shield as much. This was proven when the wing headed beast of a woman fired off another blast at the back line. Ranma could do nothing as the ribs weren't even mended at this point. This was not a trick she would normally use often in battle as it would take too long. As such, Ranma could only watch as Pu-Broccoli was taken out in much the same manner as MAGES.. Then Arfoire used the distraction once more to strike at Tekken who had been over extended. Arfoire was not only strong, but fast and intelligent as well. She had let them all set the tone for the battle to lure them into a false sense of security. Since everyone was already weakened, she was picking them off like flies. Ranma Had to think of someway to turn this around and fast. If Arfoire kept dropping them like this, then they wouldn't even be able to retreat. _And where the hell is Nepgear!?_

* * *

The time had come. Ranma had finally set them up for failure. That could be the only reason for this fight. Even Nepgear as inexperienced in battle as she was compared to her sister and the other CPUs could tell this was a hopeless battle. Ranma was simply too much of a headstrong idiot to realize it! As such it fell upon her to put an end to this. She began to set about setting up her little invention. She would not fail her friends and loved ones.

* * *

Where ever she was, she wasn't here when they needed every last bit of help they could get. Ranma was going to have a few words with her if they lived through this. Ranma shook her head as she focused once more on the matter at hand. Her ribs were finally mended enough that she could engage without too much immediate worry. The problem was that she needed a real plan and a way to beat the monster. That's when she started to notice the power of the goddesses once more. It was strange, she was still feeling a good bit of power coming from them. In fact, it rivaled Arfoire's if not surpassed it. If that's the case, why were they losing? As she thought on this, Tekken had tried once more to rejoin the fight only to be struck out by a MarvelousAQL missile. _Crap, there went two more. Think Ranma! Why are they not using their full power!_ That's when she realized it. The goddesses couldn't. The reason had to be that their separate forms of the same power were fighting each other for dominance as much as they were being used to fight Arfoire. They simply could not without overstraining themselves and weakening the others. Ranma did not like what that meant as she remembered what happened when she had made an attack using that very power. There was no way in hell she was doing that again. Plus even if she was dumb enough to try her luck again, she'd need another abundant source of fire. She also doubted that Arfoire would simply let her use that attack. She knew another option, but it was even worse than the first. Now 5pb had been taken out by another blast and Cave was caught off guard by a kick as the Deity of Sin began to change her style once more and was now twisting about and lashing out with more than just hew weapon and at even higher speed. _Damn it!_ Ranma finally threw caution to the wind and charged forth once more. She was still without a plan, but they needed help out there and they were running out of options.

* * *

It was finally ready. Nepgear was now looking at her creation as it thrummed with power. It was the shares collider resonance energy weapons edition destabilizer! Essentially, it was a device that emitted localized frequency that increased the Resonance of varying share energies and caused them to collide. This would cause an explosion similar to Ranma's attack from earlier. The weapon had been largely theoretical, until Ranma proved it did in fact work, and used to have one major draw back. Everyone in the battlefield would be hit by the blast. This was unacceptable. However thanks in no short part to Ranma's arrival, she had the final piece of the puzzle. The broken Gehaburn's metal. After studying its properties she found that it indeed combine the different share energies of the goddesses it absorbed. From there she was able to make the modular oscillation resonation equalizer. This should in theory cause the attack to only hit one target. Theoretically causing the target to absorb the share energy in the area and suffer an internalized destabilization once the equalizer was turned off. She still didn't like using this weapon as it was theoretical, untested, and could potentially blow everyone up, but it was her last resort. As to why she kept this a secret, her sister would have had it scrapped. Neptune never liked it when Nepgear used anything experimental on her. How was she supposed to know that her instant pudding system would explode into eggplant pudding? In any case, it was obvious that it was time to use her weapon. Now she just needed an opening.

* * *

Ranma came charging back into the fight. The others seemed glad to see her rejoin them as they desperately tried to fight Arfoire as she was now fighting seriously and dropping their companions left and right. During the time of Ranma's charge they had lost the last of the non goddess forces. Now there were only eight against Arfoire since Nepgear was still missing. As Ranma neared, Arfoire flew up above the remaining combatants and began to gather energy for huge attack. Ranma leapt at her to try and prevent whatever attack she intended to unleash at the others. Then white as Ranma felt herself burning from power within before shear agony.

* * *

Nepgear watched as only the CPUs and Candidates remained. Ranma still seemed to be missing. Oh wait, there sh- I mean he is. Nepgear had to wonder at what had taken such a powerful person like that so long to rejoin the fight unless she had been knocked out, but that could not be the case as the system once in effect kept you unconscious until a battle was over in exchange for preserving your life so long as you won the fight. While this should have meant that Nepgear didn't need to worry, that fact only worked if all combatants were within the battlefield itself. In order for Nepgear to safely set this weapon up, she had to be outside of it. Also, the moment she interfered would break the system. In any case, Ranma was back in the fight. That's when Nepgear saw Arfoire give her what she'd been waiting for. When she had finally lined up the shot and taken it, she had not expected Ranma to jump in the way nor had she expected the equalizer to burn out a second later.

* * *

The power continued to rebel and seek to tear Ranma apart from within. She did everything she could to stop it, but not even the soul of ice was affecting the energy. It ran rampant throughout her body and she knew she had to be screaming. It was only a matter of time before she would be torn to pieces from within. She knew at that moment she had lost. That she had failed the people of this world. That she had failed to return home. She wouldn't even be able to see any of them one last time before the end. She wouldn't even be able to speak to Akane. That's when Ranma's very soul flared up once more. She was Ranma Saotome heir to the Saotome School of anything goes martial arts. Ranma Saotome don't lose. With this thought in mind and pushed on by her feelings, Ranma sought out his very being to find someway to escape this destruction. That's when she remembered her talk with Histoire and what MAGES. had said earlier. This power had to be the power of the goddesses. That's when Ranma gave herself to the chaos that emanated from her very soul.

* * *

Nepgear could hear the screams even from this distance. She had killed Ranma. As she watched the floating and struggling form of Ranma scream endlessly in what had to be pure agony, her knees buckled and she fell to the ground in shock. She had never meant for this to happen. She may have been suspicious of the new arrival and a little jealous, but she knew that Ranma never meant to hurt them. Her suspicions were with the ones who had sent Ranma here. As tears filled her eyes and spilled forth, she continued to lament her actions.

* * *

Everyone on the battlefield stopped and looked on in horror at the screaming form of Ranma. They were all wondering what could have caused this. The only one that seemed to not be horrified was laughing maliciously," Oh this is wondrous are the sounds of this wretch's last moments! I must thank your companion for providing me with such a sight!"

Neptune and the other goddesses ignored Arfoire's words to stare in shock at what they were seeing. The one who had saved them from themselves and given them hope once more was dying. They could feel their share energy fighting inside of her. There was absolutely no hope. It was at that moment most of the goddesses suddenly felt weakened as flashes of light filled the air," NO!"

The cries had come from Green Heart and the White Sisters as they now flew to Ranma desperately. The others soon collapsed from the drain as their presence was weakened. Soon after the twins lost their HDD and began to fall to the ground unconscious. Vert followed soon after. The last thing she saw was another flash of light.

* * *

Nepgear had been far enough away to not suffer the effects of what had transpired. She could not help but watch as the scene played out before her and Arfoire's laughter filled the air. That's when she noticed a change had occurred. As the three began to fall from the sky, Ranma had stopped screaming. She was still there and alive. It was as Vert crashed to into the ground that a light filled the air. Once it dissipated a new figure floated in place where Ranma once stood. Where as Ranma had been short and busty, this new figure was taller and better proportioned to her bust size. Her red hair was unbound but retained its old length cascading past her shoulders. She wore a deep collared red leotard with white sleeves with the torso top styled like a cheongsam but very much like what the others wore in HDD. Strangely her hand were ungloved and feet only had the simple black shoes Ranma seemed to prefer when he had been able to buy new clothes. Floating behind each shoulder was a twisted and red glowing mechanical amalgamation in the shape of a serpentine dragon.

Nepgear could only stare in shock at the scene before her. Ranma had somehow become a goddess. The question was if she was a CPU or a candidate.

* * *

Ranma's senses returned to the world around her once more. She had no time to look herself over to see the damage done. She surveyed the situation and found that she was the only one besides Arfoire left standing. She also noted that she could feel the share energy in the air. It felt so amazing. Ranma quickly regained focus and grasped the energy about her as she focused it like her ki. As she did so, she turned to her foe. Her sapphire eyes latched on to Arfoire.

"What is the meaning of this!" she bellowed to which Ranma only shook her head.

"Not even a clue, except I'm about to beat the living hell out of you!" She answered before charging forth once more. She didn't even notice she had been flying the entire time or that she was doing so instinctively. All that mattered at this moment was putting an end to this fight once and for all, and with all the power Ranma felt within her, she was certain to win. As she flew forth, Arfoire once more tried to fire off a blast. Ranma quickly kicked the outstretched arm upward, causing the attack to be wasted in the sky, and twisting around to fire off a blast similar to her old ki attack but colored pure white from both of her hands. It struck dead center once more and this time utterly shattered the shield. She found that strange until she realized what had happened. The system had raised a victory flag and had severely weakened Arfoire. This was a scripted battle with no chance for her to lose. The strange thing was that she didn't even bother to wonder how she knew this or why. All that mattered was victory. With that thought in mind, she quickly followed up her attack before Arfoire could try to counter. This time she unleashed a flurry of combo attacks combining punches and kicks before using an uppercut to send her opponent skyward and unleashing a massive blast. Arfoire's form was badly cracked and breaking when she crashed down upon the ground once more. The fight was over.

"N, No! Th-this should n-not be," Arfoire was barely able to croak out. Ranma looked about and saw that the others were regaining consciousness and felt the power within receding. It felt sad to let the power go. She still wanted to bask within it, but she also knew that that was not her own power. The only reason she even had it to begin with was because of that attack from earlier. As the energy left, so did her sense and connection to the system seem to dull. She was only aware of it now and could only read the simpler parts of it. She let a sigh of regret before turning to the downed form of Arfoire once more.

"Nothing personal, but here's where it ends. Good bye," Was all she told her foe before landing in front of her and unleashing another two handed blast that was much weaker than the one before. However, it was enough to shatter Arfoire and she could feel her darkness dissipate and vanish. She could also feel that the game was over and fealt as the extra energy that empowered the others dissipated until they were back to normal levels. However, there was no time to relax as the ground itself began to shake under everyone's feet. Fortunately with the goddesses recovering from the return of their power and Nepgear returning from where ever she had been hiding, they were able to get everyone out before the Graveyard collapsed in on itself and vanished from Gamindustri.

* * *

They were now all gathered back at the Planeptune Basilicom in the living quarters resting and talk. Well most of them were. Ranma was busy being coached into how to release HDD before it fully drained her. She apparently lost much of her understanding about her new powers along with her OS weakening. One of the few things she had been able to retain was how to fly. After a little bit, they were able to get her to figure it out. After that they sat down and relaxed with the others over snacks while discussing the situation.

"I'm sorry this happened Ranma, but I honestly had no idea that something like this was even possible," Histoire apologized to only receive a glare from the redhead as she went to put on some hot water. She looked like she was going to murder the poor tome if it didn't work. Histoire immediately decided to try and make herself scarce and left to go do some of the official paper work she usually hassles Neptune about.

"Well, now she's a goddess. I say she should be more grateful if you ask me!" Noire commented.

"I think she's more concerned with the fact this may have taken away a part of her identity. Think of how it would feel for us if we lost our HDD," Blanc provided before taking a bite out of a manju, sipping some tea, and returning to reading a book she happened to have on her.

"Yeah, that would suck big time! Especially since it'll make it harder for her to making harems!" Neptune chimed in impishly.

"While I do not agree with that last part, I must give my sympathy for the poor dear. Maybe I can offer a stay in Leanbox?" Vert offered before drinking some of her own tea to which Blanc set down her book.

"Sure you are. I bet you just can't wait to shove her into those utters of yours you damn sis-con!" Blanc growled out at the unfazed Vert.

"My my, such language. At least show a _little_ *jiggle* refinement. Also, what is so wrong with me conveying my love to my very own sister?" Vert replied in her usual graceful manner while being completely unashamed of admitting her interests. Blanc was already beginning to fume.

"What was that Thunder Tits!? What the hell makes you think she's your sister, bitch!?" Blanc shouted back.

"Oh boy, here starts the fireworks again!" Neptune commented on the sidelines of the conversation with Noire.

"As usual, but she does have a point. We don't know if She's a CPU or candidate," Noire replied.

"Oh how _small_ *jiggle* minded of you. Haven't you realized that as far as we know Ranma has no crystal of her own? That being the case and seeing as _I_ am the only one here without a candidate, it can only mean that she's my very own little sister!" Vert replied eagerly while ignoring the effects her taunting was having on Blanc.

"Bitch ya wanna DIE!?" Blanc demanded with an overcast face and a single glowing red eye.

"I dunno, Ranma's HDD seemed to be more red and stuff. The only color that matched any of us was white so-" Neptune mentioned thoughtfully only to find herself on the receiving end of both Vert and Blanc glaring at her.

"I refuse to believe that miss look at me I have twins is now going to have yet another candidate! Why the very notion of it all is preposterous!" Vert screamed.

"No way in hell is she my sister! Do you have any idea how bad that will be for my image after what happened in Lowee!" Blanc screeched out at the same time. Neptune smiled nervously and knew anything she said could lead to a thermal nuclear disaster. Too bad she was never any good at thinking before opening her mouth.

"Well if ya ask me, you'd probably get a lot of support for the whole sisterly love thing-" That's when Neptune realized that she had said the wrong thing was probably about to suffer a very painful death if their expressions were anything to go by. _And I won_ _'_ _t even be allowed a final pudding- oh wait!_ That's when she dived for her pudding and ran with the two in hot pursuit that was cut short by a scream and a clatter from the kitchen.

* * *

While the CPUs were having their conversation, Nepgear found herself being stared down by her fellow candidates. They were not happy.

"Where were you in that last fight! We all saw you flee at the start!" Uni demanded angrily as the twins stared at Nepgear intently. Nepgear stared at the floor downcast as she tried to avoid making eye contact," If Ranma hadn't suddenly become a goddess we'd all be dead and you just ran!"

"Th-that's not true!" She squeaked out.

"Nu-uh, we saw you Nepgear you coward!" Ram declared with Rom nodding sadly in agreement. Nepgear didn't know how to respond. The fact was that she felt guilty about her part in what happened today. She wasn't even sure if her actions had helped. True that Ranma's change had happened after she shot her, but that could only explain the pain and suffering. Ranma may have already been on the path of ascension for all she knew. She began to shudder under the others' onslaught.

"Spill it Nepgear! I want the truth, I thought we were friends!" Uni demanded. At this, Nepgear froze. Her friendship was at risk for her actions. She began to cry as she summoned up the courage to admit her folly.

"I-I didn't run away out of fear… I left to set up-," She paused once more as she took a deep breath before continuing," an experimental weapon that I felt might be able to defeat Arfoire-"

"What do you mean? If that's true then what happened to it? Why did we never see it fire?" Uni interrogated with the twins nodding at her questions as if to urge Nepgear on.

"I did fire it, but it didn't use conventional means. It flagged a target to draw in share energy and then allowed it to destroy the target with a destabilizing frequency," Nepgear began to explain.

"If that's true then why did that never happen!?" Uni demanded once more. The twins wanted to know too, but were a little confused by the specifics of what Nepgear meant.

It was then that Nepgear began to explain what exactly had happened and how she had hit Ranma with it by accident. She also admitted she had no idea if Ranma's ascension had anything to do with it.

"What the hell were you thinking!? You went and used an untested-" Uni began to berate Nepgear when they were interrupted by a loud scream and clatter from the kitchen. They rushed to see what had happened and were joined by the others. What they found was a drenched Ranma still a girl and mumbling about being stuck as a girl forever while in a fetal position in a corner. It took several hours and a now black and blue Histoire to get the new goddess to calm down.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Good thing I don't own these series. They might have been cancelled due to delays...

AN: So yeah, hi guys and sorry for the month long delay. sad fact of the matter is I got sick, got better, then got hit by a "healthy" dosage of life before I was able to get back to this... That was about a week or two ago and when I realized I fell out of my groove. However, I have found it once more. Hopefully this was worth the wait.

* * *

Ranma had finally settled down and was starting to think things through more clearly. As such she took a deep breath, held it for a second, and released it while she allowed her mind to address some of her questions.

"Ok, now that that's over, I am lost about a few things," Ranma started her interrogation," What was with the last fight? When… IT happened, I seemed to know a lot of stuff instinctively. What the hell is a scripted battle, or for that matter, a victory flag?"

The others looked confused for a moment as no one remembered mentioning anything of the sort. Then it dawned on Blanc," Sh-," Ranma glared to which Blanc sighed," He must have been deeply connected to the system with a heightened O.S. sense," the others were just staring at her now to which she went on in annoyance," It happens all the time in stories when someone is super charged!"

"Oooh!" was the general response of the others. Ranma just seemed lost on the matter then realized he was starting to understand what she was talking about.

"Ok, what the hell is wrong with me? How am I understanding this-" Ranma declared as she struggled. That's when she realized two things. One was that this basic knowledge from the O.S. for being a goddess would help out a lot with general knowledge in this world. The second was that she was struggling within someone's arms and had not noticed until just now," Ok, scratch that! Why is Vert acting like this!" Ranma demanded as she struggled out of the all encompassing hug of Vert. The very suffocating and marshmellowy hug of the goddess of green. Ranma was now struggling even harder as her danger senses began to go haywire.

"Oh, don't struggle so much my dear, let big sister Vert make all your worries go away," Vert tried to soothe Ranma by pressing the unwilling new goddess even deeper in her bosom. This only caused her to struggle even harder.

"Oh yeah, I thought you were just going along with it. Is this reluctance some sort of super awesome harem building technique?" Neptune asked with an honest to god curious sparkle in her eyes.

"How many times I gotta tell ya that I am not like that!?" Ranma yelled out as she finally struggled free of the hug much to a now pouting Vert's disappointment.

"Oh, you mean you swing the other way?" Neptune asked jokingly.

"Like hell!" Ranma screamed aloud in anger at a certain set of memories.

"My, I think she protests a bit too much," Neptune continued joking at Ranma's expense," What, get kissed by a guy or something?" Ranma just paled at that memory. She had tried so hard to forget that jackass after defeating the golden pair. Neptune caught on," Oh my? Did you like it? Was it your first-"

Neptune's teasing was brought to an end as a now HDD Ranma slammed her fist down on a nearby table. The piece of furniture was utterly destroyed," Shut the hell up dammit! I never even want to think about that again!"

"Wow! She might actually be our sister after all!" Ram cheered.

"Just like big sister," Rom agreed happily. Blanc and Vert both looked displeased at this for some reason. Though, Blanc had looked a little annoyed the whole time.

"Come now, just because she exploded just now doesn't mean she has the same personality quirk as White Heart," Vert spoke out with a slightly desperate tone. Blanc was looking even more annoyed.

"Stop ignoring me and explain what you mean with all this sister crap! I'm an only child," HDD Ranma spoke angrily," And I'm a guy DAMMIT!"

"Well, joking aside," Neptune began to which she found herself under Ranma's angry gaze," The fact is that goddesses around here are either CPUs or candidates. The theory is that since you don't have a share crystal or land, you are a candidate. A candidate is a CPU's younger sister. Sooo, that means you're now one of ours. Problem is that it's hard to tell thanks to whatever you pulled against Arfoire. You still seem to have bits of everyone's shares still in you. Though that'll probably wear off soon enough!"

Ranma let that sink in for a moment before sighing and releasing HDD," Honestly don't see the point. After all, I'm just going to find a way too get rid of this and go home. I'm a guy damn it, not someone's sister!"

A number of faces looked a little disappointed at this declaration, but they couldn't really fault Ranma for wanting to be themselves and going home. That's when Neptune tried to brighten the mood," Hey, don't worry! We got Histoire here. All we need to do is ask and-" It was at this point that screams of agony could be heard and everyone realized that Compa had left to take care of the poor tome," Well if she lives, that is."

Everyone in the group just deadpanned and Ranma had the decency to look a little sheepish while IF left to insure that Histoire would in fact survive. After IF had left, Vert decided to make her argument," That may all be true, but the fact is that you are a goddess right now. There's no telling how long it will take to find your answers considering Histoire's track record. It should be imperative to find out about your new station so that we can make living arrangements and such accordingly in the meantime."

"Uh Vert, I hate to burst your bubble, but why can't Ranma just stay here or anywhere of her choosing?" Neptune asked while completely ignoring Ranma's glare. Vert then had a certain gleam in her eye as if she had already won.

"My Neptune! Have you not considered the repercussions of what would happen if it were found out that a candidate for one nation was living in another?" Vert pointed out to which the others stared for a moment and realized it would in fact have a negative impact. After all what does it say about your nation if its newest candidate refuses to live there? After the recent mess and all the trouble everyone had, the last thing they needed was a scandal, or another one in the case of Blanc.

This led to an argument among the CPUs with candidates watching from the sidelines. Ranma decided it would be a good idea to go out and get some fresh air while this blew over. Such as it was, she made her way quietly out of the room. Once she made it to the hall, she was about take off running when a voice stopped her.

"W-wait Ranma!" Nepgear called out from behind. It was at that moment that Ranma remembered that Nepgear had fled the final battle.

"What's this about?" Ranma asked coldly and waited for an answer without turning to face her. Nepgear seemed to physically recoil from the temperature of Ranma's words. A full minute passed in silence as Nepgear had several failed starts that Ranma never noticed. He finally grunted and walked off," I don't have time for this."

Thus Nepgear was left alone in the hallway with the other candidates watching the whole scene from the doorway. Rom looked a little sad, but both Ram and Uni seemed to be mad with or for the distraught purple candidate. The rising arguments of the CPUs were acting as a backdrop to this scene as it spilled out from the open door.

* * *

"I still refuse to believe that Blanc of all people would have another one!" Vert declared.

"I'm sorry, but isn't it obvious? I mean look at her color scheme. The only color her HDD form has that matches up with any of us is white," Noire tried to reason.

"What does that matter!? My HDD form has plenty of white in it!" Vert blurted out.

"That's not the point, You're Green Heart and Ranma doesn't have any green in that form. The only color she has that matches up is white!" Noire continued on. As much as she wanted to see Ranma squirm a little, she knew that Ranma only matched up with Blanc and that Blanc did not need another scandal after all of this.

"Oh come on Vert, I'm sure we can delay this until we're sure about that! In the meantime we can all wait here!" Neptune tried to reason. The fact was that while she didn't have any good argument about Ranma, she did not want to risk it or Histy will never let her hear the end of it if her shares plunged even further.

As the argument continued on, Blanc had stayed quiet and observed. She could not handle another scandal, but the fact was that she would have one either way. Her first meeting with Ranma was still plastered all over the web. While it is true that her oracle has been doing a good job in handling the incident, the fact was that the kiss still happened and it would cause a large commotion if it was found they were sisters. She very much doubted the sisterly love bull crap would work. If that weren't bad enough, she knew that if Ranma went to another nation now and it turned out she was her sister that it would be just as bad if not worse. For now she was actually in favor of Neptune's idea for once to hold off on it for a while until the extra share energy had dispersed. She was about to say as much until she saw Rom and Ram come into the room with an angry Uni and an unhappy Nepgear. Something must have happened out in the hall. However it was the white candidates that had her attention. They had a pleading look in their eyes. Blanc wanted to ignore it and still go along with Neptune's idea for once. However, she couldn't ignore them this time. Those two had taken a liking to Ranma. They would not be happy if she let this wait. She didn't know quite how she knew, but the urgency behind those pleading eyes spoke volumes on their opinion. Finally with an angry sigh, Blanc spoke up," Enough of this! It seems to be pretty clear that she is more than likely a white sister. While I'm sure you all would like to avoid a scandal, I'm afraid that I simply can't afford another right now. Ranma is going to Lowee. It would also do her good to be away from Histoire at this time," _And if it does turn out that Ranma is Vert_ _'_ _s sister, she would take great joy in watching Vert deal with a scandal after all of this!_ She thought as she left the room with her sisters.

As the meeting was finally brought to a close, no one noticed to gleam in Vert's eyes.

* * *

Somewhere off at an unknown location walked as certain cheerful redhead. She had been in Planeptune hoping to finally meet with her goddess wifeys to be at last. As it turned out, her info was outdated and she came across an alarming video in Planeptune when she finally had arrived. Someone was after her wifeys! She couldn't believe it when she saw someone get to Blanc's lips before her! And so here she was, lost somewhere north of Planeptune on her journey to meet the wifey stealer! As she thought about this, she recalled her first time trying to make contact with a goddess.

They were in a forest getting beaten up by some mean lady and a mouse when she came in to save the day. Sadly, she was not the only one. The Justice meanie showed up. They got along well enough and saved the day. She was even wanting to make her a wifey too until she introduced herself. Then the meanie called her a stalker of all things and chased her off. It took some time to lose her and by then she had already lost track of her original target which is what left her in this miserable state. She could never seem to show up in time to meet any of the goddesses, and whenever she got close, the former wifey to be would show up and the chase would start all over again. Just thinking about her hardships brought tears to her eyes. It seemed the whole world was out to stop her from finally making her ultimate yuri harem!

As she was walking through a thick forest and thinking about this, she came across the remains of some really old city in the forest. Where was she!?

* * *

Also somewhere lost in an unknown location stood the proud defender of justice in her black body suit meant to show off her nonexistent assets- er I mean slender figure! Her eyes had flickered red for a fraction of a second for some completely unknown reason. Nisa was not happy regardless. She had still failed to apprehend her one time ally for justice turned rogue by the foibles of lust. It had truly been a sad day when she heard that such a vibrant and powerful ally would so brazenly declare her crimes of being a stalker and to the valiant goddesses no less. For the betterment of the world and the safety of those who sought to save and protect it, she had no choice but to apprehend her once former ally of justice. Oh the tragedy! But no matter what, she will stay firm in her resolve and the pursuit of justice. At this final declaration in her internal monologue, she struck a pose with fire in her eyes a fist raised towards the heavens. She would never let Red go! For great justice!

After her usual moment, she began to continue her search. She had lost her somewhere in this forest. No matter, she will capture her in the end. As she thought this, she stepped out of the tree line and found some odd ruins that she did not recall having seen before. What remained of the architecture was different from that of Lowee, Planeptune, Lastation, or Leanbox. _What is this place?_

* * *

Somewhere in Lowee stood a certain bunny themed girl eating Blanc manjuu. As she was eating, she was considering what to do about her current situation. She had recently made a sweet deal with a local merchant about making and selling a new knock off brand of drink similar to nepbull. The fact was that while this popular energy drink was found just about anywhere, there were some rather annoying laws regarding it. First, it was an import from Planeptune and therefore suffered a tariff to cross the borders to other nations. The second problem had been that the company selling it had been very adamant on maintaining its price across borders in spite of this. This of course meant that it dug into the profit margin of stores in nations besides Planeptune. This was a bit stupid, but no one can fault the company for wanting to sell its product across Gamindustri to everyone at what it considered a fair and reasonable price. Nepbull Inc. wouldn't even have been able to pull this off if somehow the drink had not become so popular. As it was currently, stores selling the stuff were only making a small profit off of it due to the fact the company regulated the final selling prices. This practice has gone unchallenged thus far as the company actually has the full backing of the Planeptune government as it is said this product is one of the main reasons Purple Heart has been able to maintain her small shares to begin with. That is, when it's not a world saving emergency. During such times her nation's shares have been known to skyrocket and then drop off dramatically afterwards. In any case, that energy drink is a highly popular one and there is currently no direct competitor. The drink has a rather unique flavor that no one has yet been able to recreate. This girl had been hired by a company in Lowee to do precisely that. Discover their secret formula so that a whole new brand called Blanc Bull may be produced. She had been close too. Sadly, it and her alchemy lab went up in smoke. Why you might be wondering? Well, she happened to have the tv on the news when a breaking news report came on. She had been in the midst of pouring the last ingredient in when she saw the most unexpected image on the TV of someone stealing a kiss from Lady White Heart. So surprised was she that she dropped ingredient into the cauldron and splashed herself with the boiling contents. She had fallen back and knocked the cauldron over to which she found an unexpected property to her current formula. The results were quite explosive.

After that, the company pulled out and cut all connections with her to avoid being mixed up in the current ongoing investigation. It's a good thing the notes were destroyed or she might have had to worry about being sued by Nep Bull Inc. She was also lucky that she WAS a licensed alchemist. Otherwise she'd have had to pay for all the damages her illegal experiment would have caused. Sadly, that license had been revoked as of that morning due to the fact that she had apparently been performing unsafe practices inside city limits. Anything that destructive was supposed to be carried out in a secluded lab. How was she supposed to know that Planeptune's most popular drink used such dangerous chemicals!? In any case, there she was now homeless, coming short on funds, and now unlicensed in her main profession. Then she had an idea. That red head would pay…

* * *

Ranma was just walking towards the guild building to pick up a job so she could make some money and work out some of her frustrations on some monsters when she had to violently shiver. After a moment, she shrugged it off and continued on. _Hmmm, seems this place gets chilly quickly._ She thought as she walked on. She was coming up close to the Guild when she heard a voice calling her name from behind. She stopped to see Ram calling out to her loudly and running to her as Rom and Blanc followed at a slower pace.

"Hey Ranma-nee! Wait up!" Ram called out as she made it to the now waiting Ranma. At this Ranma sighed before glaring at the long haired twin.

"I'm not a sister. I'm a guy," She scolded calmly.

"Ranma-nii," Ranma said quietly as she and Blanc walked up to Ranma and Ram.

"Fine, that'll work I guess," Ranma relented to the now smiling short haired twin. Blanc actually found it nice that her sisters were making a new friend. Even if said friend is the one that caused the scandal she is going to have to deal with when she gets back. She took in a calming breath.

"Hello Ranma, we are here to take you with us to Lowee," she declared quietly as Ranma's expression became serious," It has been decided it would be in our best interests. I believe yours as well."

"How's it in my best interests?" Ranma demanded seriously. She was not happy that they were making calls like this without her.

"Well, would you rather be stuck with Neptune, Noire, or Vert? As I understand it from my sisters, there's something going on between you and Nepgear though they won't tell me what. Noire seems to still hold your landing on her against you. As for Vert…" For a moment Blanc's face went dark and Ranma could have sworn her eyes started to turn red before going back to normal," If you value your chastity, I would advise against it."

Ranma had to admit that all of those sounded right, but she still had the feeling that Nepgear deserved to explain herself. She just had to let her patience cool down enough so she could hear her out. Though, she could do that at any time and the more time the better. There was however one thing that bothered Ranma," I can see all of that, but wouldn't miss twintails be a better choice? Sure I landed on her and all, but I would've thought you'd hate me for that.. well you know…"

"If you're referring to the scandal you caused," Blanc took a deep breath to calm herself," I understand you were not in control of yourself at the time and therefore it would be petty of me to hold an accident against you. That is so long as that holds true," She said with a dark aura," However, I expect a full explanation in private of what happened. I want to know why Ranma and not just some technique name. Also, I will make you regret it if you run your mouth off again like last time."

After finishing this, she released the aura and the red eye look as Ranma frantically nodded in agreement. She may enjoy a good fight and a challenge, but Blanc's expression was actually scarier than Akane's. _She_ _'_ _s actually letting me talk? That_ _'_ _s a change_ _…_ _Too bad I_ _'_ _m sure I_ _'_ _m gonna get laughed at later though_ _…_ She thought on the side as the realization struck her after she no longer felt that glare. With that, the group made their way back to the Basilicom to bid farewell to the others for the time being and head out to Lowee to get Ranma situated.

* * *

"I can't believe the nerve of her!" Uni growled out angrily as she sat on a chair in Nepgear's bedroom," Seriously, I know you caused her current problem, but she could have at least given you the chance to talk first! Especially, since she doesn't know that!"

"I-it really isn't her fault. I was too afraid…" The downtrodden Nepgear replied quietly from where sat on her bed opposite of Uni. She really couldn't blame Ranma for what happened in the hall. She did give her a chance to talk, but she had just been too afraid to talk.

"That's exactly what I mean about the jerk! If she even bothered to look at you, she would have known you were trying your best to reply!" Uni may have been mad at her friend for what had happened, but she could not forgive Ranma for being such an insensitive jerk. After what had happened earlier and the meeting had ended, Uni had decided to check up on Nepgear to cheer her up after what had happened before she had to leave with her sister to Lastation. As it was, she had ended up venting instead. Realizing this, Uni took a deep breath to calm herself before standing up and placing her hands on Nepgear's shoulders to reassure the girl as she spoke," Listen, all you did was make a mistake. We may be goddesses, but we're far from perfect if Neptune is anything to go by-"

"Hey!" Nepgear livened up in defense of her older sister.

"There we go! Come on Nepgear, maybe Ranma heading off to Lowee is a good thing as it'll give you tow some space so you can straighten out this mess with her-him or whatever!"

Nepgear listened and nodded with her friend's words. Maybe it was true. All she needed was some time to recollect herself and then they could talk it out and she can apologize for what had happened," Thanks Uni. I think I needed that. You're a real friend!"

To this, Uni smiled," Anytime 'Gear! What are friends for? Anyways, I have to head out soon. Lastation can't run itself ya know!"

And with that, the black sister made her way out of the room after a final hug. Nepgear sat down alone quietly in her room for a time as she thought on what to do.

* * *

No one had noticed it as the meeting over the new goddess's fate had been brought to an end; the gleam that had entered the lady of green's eyes. She had fully and truly been outraged at the results. How dare they deny her of a little sister. As if that had not been enough, that little slip of a goddess had stolen another and now has three! Vert would not stand for this. How could they? Do they not know of the pains of those who have been denied this joy!?

It was then that another thought entered her mind. Of course they did not. After all, she was the only CPU without a sister to begin with. True that her oracle tries dearly to fill in that role, but that came no where close to a true sister. One she had been denied. One that was in pain and needed someone with a more motherly touch such as herself to comfort her. Vert would show no mercy in this matter. She had been denied and she will not stand for it. War was coming to Gamindustri!

With this in mind, Vert made her way through Planeptune's Basilicom to begin to put her plan into action. She would not be denied!

* * *

There was a group gathered in giving farewells before heading off to their daily lives once more as Ranma and the white goddesses entered the Basilicom. At the sight of her, the waited for Ranma to join them as Puchiko- er Broccoli hid behind Tekken.

"Hey guys, looks like I'll be chilling in Lowee for the time being!" Ranma called out as she approached. They just stared," What?"

"Was that an attempt at humor-nyu? If so, that was lame-nyu!" Broccoli called out from behind Tekken to which Ranma cringed at the reminder that she was here.

"A-anyways, Thanks a lot guys and it was nice meeting ya all and stuff. By the way IF, could you give Neptune my farewell?" Ranma replied sheepishly at first until he got to the last part. He was a bet more collected by then.

"Sure thing Ranma," IF answered with a nod. With that taken care of, Ranma and her group went HDD and with some help and instructions from the other three set off for Lowee. As Falcom and the others watched this, Falcom decided her next venture would be to Lowee. She still had not satisfied her curiosity for the red head. With that in mind she waved farewell to the others as she set out on foot in the same direction.

* * *

Sometime had passed since Uni had left Nepgear alone it was now dusk. She was still troubled by her current situation. She had to get the courage to tell Ranma herself that she was the one responsible for what had happened. It's just that she honestly had her own reservations and fears. She still had no idea of what had happened in the unchanged future or why. It also didn't help that she was afraid of ending up like Histoire who was still recovering. The thought of it made her cringe in fear. Ranma's anger had been on par with Blanc's at that time.

As she thought about this and more, she never noticed her door opening and the presence of the newcomer. So lost in her thoughts, she never noticed until she found herself in the embrace of a certain CPU's bountiful mounds.

"There, there my dear Nepgear," Vert's soothing voice came as the green goddess began to stroke Nepgear's back," Do you need someone to talk to? Big sister Vert is always willing to hear you out."

Nepgear remained quiet for a time before finally nodding. She told Vert of how she was the one that caused Ranma's situation and her fears. She even spoke of her attempt to tell Ranma earlier and slowly began to cry as she went on. Vert simply continued to hold the purple sister as she listened intently with that strange gleam in her eyes," It's all my fault and I'm such a coward!"

"Shush, that is not true at all dear," Vert spoke once more as she finally let go of her hold and sat next to Nepgear and wrapped an arm around her shoulders," You were only doing what you thought was best. True it might have turned badly, but you only meant well."

"But I-" Nepgear began once more before she was silenced once more by Vert as she placed a single finger against the younger girl's lips.

"Listen to big sister Vert. All you did was make a mistake. It happens. I've been known to make quite a few. Now how do you propose we fix this?"

"I-I don't know how. I would like to make up with everyone bu-" Nepgear began once more.

"That's good! Let's make sure to make up with sister Ranma and all of the others!" Vert declared. Nepgear just went along. She never even realized that Vert had been referring to herself as a sister or the fact that somehow Vert had begun to say the others were sisters too.

* * *

It was now full on night and if one were to look closely they might spot two individuals flying away from the Planeptune Basilicom together. Vert could not have been happier. All it took was to console the poor girl and then a little push and she was all hers. Now that she has completed her first conquest in this war, she was off to Leanbox to prepare for phase two. Soon Ranma will be hers.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Same as usual. I don't own these series or any that is referenced. If I did, Hyperdevotion would be very different and starring someone else. I'm pretty sure you can guess who at this point.

AN: Several things to comment on here. Some are things I forgot to bring up in the notes on the last chapter. First and foremost is the fact that I was disappointed by the fact no one as far as I can tell remembered the famicom with Ranma's color scheme. Oh well, the answer will come in time. Also, I feel the following has to be addressed. Yuri has always been present in the Neptunia series to some extent (admitted hinted at or teased). So expect the possibility in any fic using it. Not trying to be rude here but I felt it had to be brought up. On another note while this fic is rated mature, please do not assume anything of a citrus nature is occurring off screen unless clearly alluded to. Only bringing this up because I realized some people might make this assumption with some of the things Vert is pulling... Anyway, I hope you all enjoy. Hopefully I'll get the next chapter done quickly as well or it might be a week before it comes out. Fingers crossed.

* * *

It was night time when Ranma and the three goddesses of Lowee arrived at their Basilicom. Now that it seemed some of the more game-like aspects of the world were fading away, travel across the world of Gamindustri was taking much longer. The trip would have taken a few days if Ranma was made to travel by mundane means. However, it still took them five hours to get too Lowee. Ranma just couldn't seem to get the hang of goddess flight and had in fact had several crashes along the way from her lacking control. Either she would randomly have a burst of speed that would send her rocketing into just about anything or she would use too little that she would start to fall and then over compensate. Blanc seriously couldn't believe the knock out homerun that had happened. How do you manage to fly into something so small this high up!? The entire trip she had continued to mutter darkly about free power ups and why she hated them. In any case, Ranma had improved and was getting steadier by the time they had arrived at the Basilicom. Seeing as it was late by then and past the twins' bedtime, much to Mina's ire, they all sat down and had dinner together.

"Ranma! Show some manners! You are not a barbarian. If you are to be a goddess of Lowee, you must show refinement," Mina chided the martial arts goddess," Do not act like you were raised in a barn. Eat slowly and properly."

"Hey, I wasn't raised on a farm. I was raised on the road by pops on a long training trip!" Ranma shot back. If she had been raised like that, she would probably be much weaker and the entire family homeless as her lazy panda of a father would run the place into the ground. Yup, Ranma was thankful the old man had taken her on the trip until she recalled the curse and multiple engagements. Then her mood soured a little. However, she did try to slow down her eating habits and try to use the silverware properly. Key word being tried; old habits die hard. Mina could only shake her head at the redhead. In the end, she gave up on Ranma for the time being and focused on the twins to make sure they weren't getting influenced badly by the display of Saotome School of Anything Goes speed eating. Once the meal had ended, Mina led the twins off to take a bath and go to bed. Blanc, however, took the new goddess to her office.

"You can make yourself comfortable now," the goddess of white began and Ranma gingerly took a seat in a nearby chair as the other goddess took her seat behind the desk," Now I want to know the truth of what happened as we had discussed before."

Ranma gulped as she wondered how the goddess would take the story. So far it had not ended well for Ranma in the past. However, Ranma's nervousness did not go unnoticed and was answered with the beginnings of The Look," Well-er the truth is… due to a certain training I took when I was young… I am now afraid of c-cats," Ranma finally got out in a small voice with shame written on her face. Blanc didn't laugh at this however. Instead-

"What the hell kind of answer is that! I want details. What does your fear of cats have to do with this!?" Blanc demanded. She was not going to be nice about this. She needed answers if she was going to diffuse what happened and this was not what she needed. How does a fear of cats lead to acting like one and ki- She had to clutch her desk to physically restrain herself as she waited for answers.

"Well… if I become too… scared I either black out or end up in the nekoken. That's what happened when I met Pu-er Broccoli at that time," Ranma answered once more. She was still waiting for it. The laughing. She was certain it was coming once she got the whole story out. It always came…

Blanc felt some of her anger receding. Sounds like a traumatic fear," What the hell kind of training causes that!?"

The final question ha arrived. After this, Ranma knew she would be humiliated. This was always the way of things. Ranma had to collect herself for she had to remember," My pops always wanted me to be the best martial artist out there. When I was younger, he would always try out one hair brained training method or another… Then one day he got hold of a manual for an unbeatable martial art called the Nekoken… I would rather not relive the rest."

Blanc had to think on the matter. She still had not received an answer that satisfied her last question. However, she did have the background to it. Ranma had been trained by an idiot or a sadistic bastard. At the moment, she was betting on the former. She wanted to know more about this training, but it was becoming obvious that it was likely not to be as Ranma was already beginning to turn pale and sweat. She'd let this be for now, but if she ever met the father, she would have her answers and the old man better hope she takes it well. With the decision made in her mind, she took a calming breath before talking once more," Fine, this will do for now and hopefully it will be enough. The twins are probably not going to be happy with this, but as of now, all felines and anything related will have to be banned from the Basilicom for the duration of your stay… Ranma?

Ranma was just staring at nothing. She was completely dumb struck. As Ranma waited for the final verdict to come, she had been waiting for it to happen. However, the humiliation never came. Instead, she had actually been let off the hook for now and Blanc was even taking preventative measures… The world was broken.

After a while of waiting for Ranma to snap out of it, Blanc just got up and took the mentally broken girl's hand and led her to a guest room to sleep. She would have to talk to Mina about this. There were still unanswered questions and the girl's behavior seemed odd. In the meantime as she waited for Mina to return from putting the twins to bed for a final report, she picked up a book and lied down on a bean bag.

"My, those two were energetic tonight! I think they must really like their new friend and goddess," Mina chirped happily as she entered the office. Blanc sighed at this as she put the book aside for the moment and walked over to her desk to talk with her oracle.

"Yes, about Ranma. I need your opinion on something," Blanc began before explaining the prior meeting and its proceedings. Mina did not seem happy with what was said and even seemed a bit worried.

"I would have to say that this training had to have been excessively violent and traumatic if what you are saying is true…" She began as she thought over some of the details," By the way when Ranma seemed to have a mental breakdown, was she still afraid?"

Blanc shook her at this," no, she looked shocked."

"Hmm, I see. It would seem there's a lot of things wrong with Ranma and that she may be a walking time bomb waiting to go off. I can't say for sure yet, but I think that was a sign of abuse besides just the training. However, it would seem that Ranma is a closed book. I would advise being careful with her and trying to learn more about her old life until we have enough knowledge. However, I would also suggest keeping her under discreet surveillance and for me or you to watch over the twins anytime they're with Ranma," Mina decided after taking about half a minute to mull over the details once more. However, this alarmed Blanc.

"Are you suggesting that our possible new candidate is dangerous," Blanc demanded levelly.

"It is a possibility. We already know she is a disaster waiting to happen if a cat is about. There could be any number of dangerous triggers we don't know about," Mina began to explain," However, we must do our best not to alienate her and try to do what we can for her."

With that out of the way, they continued to go over more normal business. What Mina didn't share, however, was that ordinary psychiatric mean might not work with Ranma since she was now a goddess. It had been a major, albeit secret, debate among scholars whether or not a goddess natural matured or even developed mentally beyond ordinary learning. Currently the verdict was no as it has been observed by oracles for generations now that the goddesses have never had a major change in maturity. It was as if they were frozen in time. However with the reports on the candidates and their own recent developments in the face of what was becoming known as the ASIC War, there have been recent rumblings on the matter. The candidates had matured through the incident. That much had been clear, but that left too many questions still. There was only so much to be learned from observation after all. Hopefully Mina will be able to handle Ranma.

* * *

The following morning Ranma woke up in a strange bed and went to high alert as she jumped out of it and went to high alert for any incoming attack. Waking up in an unknown location was never good. Even worse, she couldn't help the feeling that someone was watching her. However, she couldn't sense anyone in the area. She was completely on edge as she went about waking up. She quickly remembered the events of the previous night and the mind numbing shock of not being laughed at for being afraid of cats. Shaking off the thought before the shock could return, she left her room through the window as it was the fastest way outside. The drop wasn't too bad, especially for her new body. She landed upon a red roof below and made a running jump onto one of the nearby crystals that spiraled around the main tower of the main structure. From there, she jumped from crystal top to crystal top as she made her way down the spiral while making it into an exercise by combining flips and acrobatics to each jump. That would be when she found the crystals did not go all the way to the ground as she had initially assumed. Too bad she had already jumped off the last one before noticing that. Thankfully she remembered she could go HDD. Once on the ground, she returned to normal and made her way to an open courtyard within the Basilicom's walls. Once there, she began to work out starting with katas.

* * *

Rom and Ram had been woken up early as usual by the Lowee oracle. They were both really looking forward to playing with Ranma today. Mina, however, seemed to be very insistent that Ranma needed her sleep and that they were not to bother her too much before taking them to the dining room and serving a properly balanced breakfast to the young goddesses. As they left to go play outside, Mina got a report that Ranma had already left the room and they were apparently having trouble finding her. The cameras that had been set in her room and throughout the Basilicom over night had not been set up for the possibility that Ranma would leave the room through the window. At first she thought that Ranma had simply flown off, but then she got the report she was last seen performing acrobatics on the power pylons. _What kind of mad woman is she!?_ Mina was seriously starting to doubt the sanity of their newest resident when she realized one thing… Ranma was outside somewhere and the twins were currently on their way to the courtyard un-chaperoned.

* * *

Ranma had just finished one of the more advanced sets of katas when she was interrupted by clapping and cheering. She then turned around to find an awe-struck Rom and an excited Ram watching her morning workout.

"Hey there, you guys are up early," Ranma greeted cheerfully. Ranma may have had some problems with kids in the past, but that was always because they had been brats. Ranma actually enjoyed playing with kids every now and then because it reminded her of back when Ucchan and HE used to play together. Of course, she knew better than to actually fight they used to, but she still treasured those memories now the she looked back on them. Well, those that didn't end up biting her in the ass that is. She still could remember the special sauce incident.

"That was awesome Ranma-nii!" Ram continued to cheer with Rom nodding in agreement," So is that the martial arts stuff they always go on about in the stories?"

Apparently they were more interested in what Ranma was doing than explaining their morning. Ranma just shrugged before explaining," Yup, that was a part of it. I am a martial artist after all."

"But that was way cooler than the stuff Tekken uses!" Ram blurted out.

"It was more graceful and beautiful," Rom added.

"Well, that's because of two things. One, she practices a different style than me," Ranma decided to enlighten them," And two, that girl is a conditioning nut!"

"What does conditioner have to do with this?" Ram asked once more.

"I think she-er He meant that Tekken prefers to train her body," Rom tried to help.

"But how is that different from Ranma? Isn't martial arts about training the body?" Ram continued to question. Ranma sighed at this.

"Not quite Ram, conditioning the body means to strengthen it. That is only a part of Martial arts. What's the point of all those muscles without the skill to use them?" At this, Ram's face lit up with understanding and Ranma nodded. It was just like in the stories where the strong guys would lose to a weaker opponent. It was at this time that Mina came rushing out of the doors leading to the main structure of the Basilicom. She seemed a little out of breath and was sweating. What stood out most to Ranma was the worry on her face," Good morning Mi-uh… Minako?"

Mina simply sighed. Ranma also seemed to be forgetful sometimes," Mina, Ranma, my name is Mina," she corrected before turning to the twins to fuss over them," Are you two okay? Anything happen?"

The twins looked to the oracle confused and nodded," Yeah, we're ok, why wouldn't we be?" Ram added. Ranma then noticed the relief on Mina's face and just chalked it all up to her being over protective. Deciding that the woman was going to probably keep the kids occupied for a bit, she went back into training. This time she walked a little further away from the group for safety before starting to meditate on the new power within Ranma that seemed to replace her ki. Mina paled at the display.

* * *

Red awoke within the remains of a structure. As she was exploring the ruins yesterday and trying to get her bearings, SHE showed up and the chase was on again. In the end she was able to lose her within this large structure that was falling apart at the center of the ruined city. It was a strange structure; that was for sure. It had obviously had wood paneling everywhere and paper walls that had long since rotted away to reveal oddly familiar technology. Even more strange was the lack of monsters. It was empty of all life. Except for an occasional skeletal remain. Those were SCARY! In any case, Red mad her through the place trying to see if there was any treasure to be found to woo a CPU wifey with and hopefully find a way out without running into the meanie. Her only hope was that she was one of those wifeys that just needed enough encounters to fall in love or something. Then again, she wasn't sure if that would be a good idea. As she thought about these things, she made her way into the depths of the mysterious structure.

* * *

Nisa was starting to get frustrated with her once possible ally of justice. She had found her once more in this strange city and chased her down into this mysterious and dilapidated structure. It was a wonder that it was even standing. It seemed to have some similarities to have an amalgam of unknown yet antiquated technology combined with the architecture of structures depicted in many of those kung fu and samurai games and movies. Is this the place that they originated from in Gamindustri? And what happened to this place? Oh well, she'd have to report this strange place to the guild once she finds a normal city. Nisa went about trying to find Red within the structure until she found a pair of sliding doors that were strangely intact. On the door was a strange symbol. It was a red and white circular symbol. As she walked up to the door, it slid open on its own. It opened into a large room with what looked like a shrine. It was strangely all intact here. The architecture was perfectly intact in this one room and it looked strangely exotic, pristine, and beautiful. Like the insides of a large temple from a samurai film. All of this filled her eyes at first, but her eyes quickly settled on one thing. An individual standing huddled over the shrine at the center and staring straight at Nisa in surprise. The chase was one once more!

* * *

Chika was not very happy at the moment. She had been waiting for over three years for her goddess to return. Then the sword scare and Ranma shows up. She was actually relieved when she found out everything was settled with ASIC and that Ranma would be staying at Lowee. However, she should have known better. When Vert had called her yesterday, Chika thought it had been strange that Lady Green Heart wasn't bothered by the last development considering her past behavior. She really should have known better. She found this out when her lady returned with company in the form of what would seemed to be a brainwashed Nepgear. It had taken all of Chika's best efforts to protect the goddess throughout the night from Vert's advances. Not for her sake of course, but Chika was not going to let anyone have that honor before her if she can help! However, it would seem that whatever was going on would not be over with just this. Nepgear and Vert had just left. Vert had the same gleam in her eyes that Chika had only seen on a few occasions. She had better make a call.

With that in mind, she quickly made her way to her work computer and opened up a video call to Planeptune's Oracle. She might as well contact the nation whose candidate was taken first. It took a little longer than usual to make it through, but the call was eventually accepted.

"Histoire! We have a- WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU!?" Chika shouted in alarm as the video came through. Staring back at her from the monitor was beaten, bruised, battered, and bandaged Histoire. She looked like she belonged in a hospital's ICU.

"This is what I get when my future self sends someone against there will to another world to save it…" Histoire began quietly in a pained voice," Ranma wasn't too happy when she found out her newly gained goddess-hood had taken away her male side. She went on a bit of a rampage."

That greatly bothered Chika. _What kind of maniac would do that to poor Histoire!?_ That would be when another thing hit her," Wait, Ranma is a goddess now!?" She blurted out as the pieces of the puzzle finally showed themselves to her.

"Yes, it happened yesterday during the fight against Arfoire. Didn't Vert tell you?" Histoire puzzled. Chika began to physically pale. This had to be a nightmare. A new candidate had shown up and Vert wanted her and was denied. That would have been bad enough, but they just had to send Ranma to Lowee? Blanc's and Vert's enmity, though less hostile in recent times, was well known and now they gave Blanc a third candidate.

"Shit! We have an emergency," Chika shouted at first before continuing shakily," S-she may h-have finally… snapped."

"Oh dear, what happened?" Histoire asked in a tight voice.

"She's got Nepgear acting weird and they just left. I think they might be after Ranma!" Chika then explained what had happened the previous night.

"Why were we not informed of our candidate being kidnapped and brainwashed until now?" Histoire demanded sternly before flinching in pain. To this, Chika reddened a little…

"I, uh, was too busy keeping Nepgear 'intact'," Chika answered. There was a moment of silence before understanding dawned on Histoire's face in the form of a matching blush and her mouth forming an "oh".

"Ahem, I'll go inform Neptune. I trust you'll be calling Mina in the meantime?" Histoire asked to which she received a nod of agreement before cutting the call.

* * *

Ranma was now sitting in the office of Lowee's ruling CPU once more in the same chair as the previous night. Blanc was glaring at her angrily from across her desk with slightly scuffed up Mina at her side with the equally scuffed twins behind her. They wanted to stand by Ranma, but Mina had ordered them to stay by her for this meeting quite forcefully. Ranma was trying her best to look nonchalant as she scratched the base of her pigtail nervously.

"Ranma, would you mind explaining to me why you destroyed a large part of the main courtyard," Blanc demanded in a cold tone that belied her inner fury," Which, might I add, endangered my sisters and Mina."

"I wasn't trying to?" Ranma answered back," I was trying to get used to this share energy stuff-"

"By destroying government property!?" Blanc cut in with a darkening expression. She hadn't quite made it to the red eyed glare yet. Ranma was thankful for small favors.

"All I did was meditate! I had trouble at first and then the next thing I know the power kept building up," She hurriedly explained while waving her hands. Blanc just stared for a moment. It made no sense. A goddess shouldn't have this kind of trouble. It might have to do with the difference between a human and a goddess. Ranma was the only known person to have ever achieved that feat. Now they had to deal with the backlash of a goddess try to use her power while handicapped by a human's comprehension of their body. Hower, it bothered Blanc deeply that something that destructive could have happened by accident. It shouldn't have done anything unless willed to. Then she remembered the residue that made it impossible to identify Ranma's candidacy. It might be interfering somehow.

With a sigh that finally erased her anger, Blanc spoke," I think I understand what's going on. For now I'll let you off the hook due to circumstances; however, you are not to use powers until further notice. We need to know more about what's going on with you until believe it's safe. For all we know, your attempts to control it could be crippling you instead. You may leave now."

Ranma nodded and quickly left. The twins tried to follow Ranma but were stopped by the firm grips of Mina holding each of their shoulder. Once Ranma was out of the room, Blanc turned to look at her sisters with concern," I know you think Ranma is interesting, but I want you two to be careful. We don't know much about Ranma and what Mina and I have deducted is not promising," the twins didn't seem happy to hear this with Rom pouting and Ram looking defiant," Listen!" Blanc scolded to hold their attention before there was an interruption," From what we learned last night, Ranma may not be safe to be around. This is through no fault of her own, but after my talk with her last night, certain problems were brought to my attention. For now I am not saying you can't play with her, but you need to be careful and should always have me or mina with you. If you need any more reasons, remember what just happened in the courtyard and how bad it could have been if Mina hadn't shown up when she did," The twins seemed to get the message much to their displeasure," Good, now I have some work to do."

As Mina escorted them out, Blanc could not help but feel a little bad for Ranma and her sisters. She really wished things were different, but she had to be stern on the matter. As she was settling down, she noticed that her computer had a number of missed calls due to being muted. In fact, she was being called again by Planeptune. She answered the video call and was greeted by Histoire.

"Oh thank goodness I finally got through to you. Chika tried contacting you several times before I took over while she reported the situation to Lastation," Histoire spoke. Blanc sighed at the situation.

"Sorry, we just had some issues over here-," Blanc began to explain herself.

"Oh no! Vert and Nepgear are there already!?" the injured tome girl blurted out before wincing in pain.

"The hell would that bitch and your candidate have to do with anything?" Blanc demanded angrily. She was not in the mood for all of this so early in the morning. She especially did not want to deal with thundertits right then.

"Oh, well that's what this is about," Histoire answered in confusion," Apparently Vert has kidnapped and brainwashed Nepgear and is believed to be en route to Lowee to do the same to Ranma. It would seem she did not take it too well when Ranma was sent to Lowee. In any case, Neptune is on her-"

The call had been abruptly ended by a giant hammer wielded by an incensed White Heart. She was going to have to get a replacement. It was a good thing she started keeping all of files backed up on an exclusive cloud server set up in the Basilicom. _Wait, I just lost all of my progress on my latest work from this morning!_ She sorely hoped Vert would show up now. She needed someone to kill.

* * *

"Wait, so Nepgear has been captured and is now with Vert on her way to Lowee?" Noire said out loud as Uni entered the room with some paperwork. She delivered the stack in front of Noire and quietly left," I'm sorry, but if it doesn't concern Lastation at the moment, my hands are tied. I have years of work to catch up on since Kei and Uni were only able to do so much of it on top of dealing with ASIC, and this not like it _my problem_. Plus, this is Vert we're talking about. I'm sure the others can get it straightened out on their own, or it will just resolve itself like usual. I'm sorry, but I need to go. Uni just brought in more of the paperwork that had gone undone."

* * *

Black Sister was flying to Lowee at top speed. Nepgear had become a friend to her during their adventure to save Gamindustri from ASIC, and despite all of her stubbornness, Uni really cared about that friendship. She knew her sister was probably going to be mad with her for leaving. They were still behind on all of the paperwork and she was supposed to spend all day helping out.

Well, that will have to wait for later. She had to save her friend from whatever fresh madness she had been tangled up in. She was especially worried since Nepgear wasn't all that well together when she left her the previous night. As she thought about this and more, She saw someone hovering in the distance as if waiting for someone. Uni altered her course to meet whoever it was. It might be Neptune or someone from Lowee waiting for her older sister to meet up. However, that was not the case as she approached the figure. It was a tearful Purple Sister.

"Uni! Oh thank goodness I was worried," she called out and flew to Uni. This of course confused Uni. Nepgear was the one in danger. So why was she worried about her?"

I was so wooried when it took you longer than big sis said it would to get here," the Planeptune candidate rambled on as she approached. _What the hell? Neptune set this up!?_ Uni began to scowl," Why are you mad? Are you not happy to see me?" HDD Nepgear continued on worriedly and began to sniffle.

"What!? Of course I'm glad to see you!" Uni quickly replied as she dropped the scowl," I just wasn't happy that this was a prank by your sister!"

"But this isn't a prank by our sister," the tearful girl explained as got uncomfortably closer to Uni. Uni was not understanding what was going on and then noticed what was just said.

"Our sister?" Before she could say anymore, she found herself in an embrace with her face shoved into her friend's chest. She was too shocked to even move and was starting to blush hard.

"Yes, isn't that right big sister Vert?" Purple Sister confirmed as another previously unnoticed presence made herself know as she embraced the two girls from behind the Black Sister and burying said sister's head between another set of mounds. Steam was starting to rise from her ears as her HDD form failed to hold out.

"That's right, we're all sisters," Green Heart spoke warmly," It seems this one needs something more to calm her," that being said, Nepgear lowered herself and freed Uni's face so that she could kiss her on the forehead like just like Vert had taught her. The effect was dramatic and instant. Uni blacked out in the sisterly embrace," Well, looks like she's tuckered out. Let's go find a place to let her get some rest before we collect our other sisters!"

"Of course big sis!" Nepgear chirped happily. As they flew away, Vert was happy. The fools were playing straight into her hands. Now it was time for phase three.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: *looks at last chapter's update date and the mention of a possible week delay two months ago* "Well Fu-" (THIS is why it is such a good thing I don't own these series...)

AN- Hey guys, sorry about the huge as all hell delay. Hopefully I'll be back on track for real this time. Any how, let's get some stuff out of the way in regards to this chapter and some other plans I have coming in the future. I apologize if anything SEEMS OOC. It was not intentional and really more or less me being unsure about it. If it sticks out too much and I get enough comments about it, I might take the time to fix it. Sadly it was a small price to pay (Though I'm pretty sure can I fix it, just a matter of getting this thing up and going to get my steam really pumping again) to get this thing going again. Well, here's to some (hopefully) more fun times down the road to come!- Oh wait, almost forgot to mention the other part, my bad. I have plans to start actually updating the bio in the next chapter or two. Things to look forward on it will include these wonderful items:

-an actual next chapter status

-various plot bunnies for possible future stories (that anyone can feel free to use, just send me a link!)

-polls for which story to write next (not anytime soon as I still have a few arcs planned for this one... though IF I start doing multiple stories it could be sooner... and yes, I CAN be that indecisive at times)

and maybe more if I happen to think of it. I'll be sure to announce when this starts up in one of my upcoming chapters.

(TWO YEARS LATER: FU-!)-Let's hope this doesn't happen...

Edit: just fixed an accident that had Blanc insulting herself... DAMN MY IDIOCY!

* * *

Blanc was starting to settle down when Neptune came rushing into her office with a worried expression," Hey there Blanc, ya seen my sister yet!? Please tell me I haven't missed her!" Planeptune's goddess was flitting all about the room looking for any signs of her sister before Blanc could even reply," Woah! Blanc I never knew you were in-" and now the idiot was unconscious for having found Blanc's private book collection. It wasn't that they were inappropriate or anything, but the fact was that this particularly well known series of books were rather embarrassing to be seen with. Blanc was hoping dearly the purplette would forget about her collection of "Ichigo Panic 1000%". She would never hear the end of it otherwise. As such thoughts went through her mind she went about finding a new hiding place for her secret collection. Just as she finished and was beginning to move the idiot goddess, Mina walked in on them in a rather compromising position with Blanc's back to her and Neptune's face obscured by Blanc. Not a word was uttered and the only warning she got that someone had seen this awkward moment was the slamming of the office door. She then promptly dropped Neptune on the floor and went storming after the witness to find Mina. Anger was etched into her face.

"Ah, My Lady, good to see you," the scholarly oracle greeted her goddess nervously knowing that she was fooling no one.

"That was a misunderstanding and never happened. Clear?" Blanc ordered quietly while backing it up with the glare. Mina nodded timidly," Good, now come and help me get that purple haired nutcase off the floor before she regains consciousness."

About five minutes later, Neptune was sleeping on a couch in another room and Mina was standing next to Blanc now understanding that she had in fact been mistaken earlier since the rough manner she handled Neptune with, especially all of those accidents where she ended up hitting Neptune's head on something on the way, was rather violent for a lover. Neptune must have found her Lady's secret collection. She would never even admit she knew about that because she was sure it would be her on a couch with multiple head injuries instead of Neptune. In any case, it was past the time for them to get back to the emergency on hand and so she nervously addressed it," My Lady, we might have a small problem."

Blanc was already able to tell she wasn't going to like this," What would that be?"

"I can't find Ranma on the Basilicom's grounds," the oracle answered grimly.

"I should have known," Blanc reacted with a sigh," and Rom and Ram?"

"I left them in their room with guards to watch over them," Mina stated as she relaxed. Blanc nodded in satisfaction as she left the room.

"I want you and Neptune guarding the twins," She ordered as she left. If she knew that bitch, they or Uni will be her next target. Ranma shouldn't be in immediate danger unless thundertits finds… him alone. With that in mind, she made her way out of the Basilicom to track down the red haired goddess.

* * *

Ranma was on her way to the guild to work out her frustrations on some monsters. True she may not be allowed to use any of the share energy for now, but that did not mean she couldn't beat down monsters the good old fashioned way. It really angered her to know she no longer could safely use any of her more advanced techniques because the ki for them had all been replaced by share energy. Which seemed to be unstable for her, the strange part was that it didn't feel all that unstable until the incident at the courtyard. Whatever the cause, she could not fault the goddess of Lowee for ordering her to not use her powers. They knew more about this kind of stuff, and if they said she could cripple herself, Ranma was going to listen. Being crippled was a serious matter for a martial artist after all.

As Ranma made her way down the road, a strange girl ran into her and fell down. The girl looked young with brown hair and a blue dress. She also seemed to have a thing for rabbits if the large Lowee styled hat with bunny ears and the general design of her clothes were anything to go by. In a way, the girl seemed to remind her of Broccoli only less scary. Ranma offered a hand to the girl to help her up," Hey, ya ok kid?"

"Gust ok, just in a hurry to the guild," the girl said cheerfully. Ranma looked at the girl curiously.

"Are you putting in a request? I can help with that if ya need," She offered to the girl.

"Really!? You'll help Gust for free?" The girl said enthusiastically as she put her hand out to shake Ranma's to which Ranma accepted," Then it is a deal. By the way, my name is Gust!"

"Ok Gust, well the name's Ranma and I'd be happy to help," the martial artist replied with an all too familiar confident smirk," So what do ya need done?"

"Gust will show you," the bunny girl said as she pulled Ranma away from the guild building and towards the front gate by Ranma's still clasped hand. Ranma followed along without fighting the grip.

"Ok, but are you sure you'll be fine out there on your own?" Ranma asked with a little worry.

"Oh, Gust will be fine, I just needed someone to help me fight," the girl answered with a nod," Gust can handle self."

With that, Ranma was dragged out of Lowee. Sadly, she never noticed the glint in Gust's eyes.

* * *

It had been a couple of hours since her last conquest. Vert knew that the next part of her strategy would require some time and planning on her end to pull off, but she also needed to get the next part of the set up done quickly. She had taken her sisters to a nearby village where she had awoken her newest sister. That had been two and a half hours ago. Sadly, Uni seemed a bit more resilient than Nepgear to converting. She was forced to use the shock treatment on the poor dear as the consoling method was proven ineffective. This treatment, however, had proven highly effective due to the girl having feelings for Nepgear. It had only taken six more hard resets like the one used to capture her before she finally fell into the fold. That had been about an hour and a half ago. After giving the girl her orders for the next phase, the group split off to each take part in preparing for the siege to come. _That uncouth girl of the north won_ _'_ _t know what hit her!_

* * *

Linda was having a bad day. She was running low on funds since the fall of ASIC and was getting tired of the damn rat. To make things worse, she was having trouble selling the now worthless chips since it was spreading through out the net that they no longer worked. It was really stressing her out that things had gone so badly for her. She was especially pissed off with that bastard that sent her flying. Things such as they were, she decided that she would blow off some steam with her favorite pastime. After she cleared her head a little and let off some stress, she would sit down and figure out what to do next with her life. There was that one island a little ways off the coast. They usually had job openings. With that in mind, she set out to have some fun. She would never have suspected the fun that was to be had however.

* * *

Gust's plan to get to the cause of her recent failure had worked perfectly. She was worried when the notice was released the previous night that her target was in fact a goddess that would be staying at the Basilicom for the time being. She had hoped it had been something of a hoax since it was accompanied with a ban on cats within the Basilicom grounds and a request for all cats to be kept out of public sight as a pubic safety warning in the same article online. Those hopes had been dashed when she bore witness to the crazy goddess jumping about on the pylons that morning. She even considered giving up after realizing it was true. That is, for a total of five seconds. Then it struck her that this was a huge potential. This was a new and unknown goddess. There were a lot of advantages to be had with befriending her. She could practically taste the fresh carrots and count the credits already. However, she would need more info on her and the best way to do that was to befriend her. The problem was meeting Ranma. She still had not come up with a good way to do so since Ranma was locked up in the Basilicom. It was then that her target left the gates a little after a mysterious explosion. It was while she tailed the girl that Gust had formulated her little plan.

Since then, they had left the city and were now currently hunting monsters for ingredients she could sell. While it galled her that she wouldn't be able to use them herself since her equipment went up in smoke and she'd need a license to get proper replacements, she would have to make do turning these commonly in demand supplies to the guild after she and Ranma split up. Now that they had been at this a while, it was time to get on with the next part of the plan.

"So Ranma, is it true you're a new goddess?" She asked as they took a break. Now it was time to collect info. After cringing at the reminder of that unfortunate affair, the goddess in question shrugged.

"I guess so, not that I wanted to be. Just one moment I'm fighting alongside the others against that deity of destruction chick and the next thing I know I'm in pain likely to die. Still not quite sure on what happened though," the red haired girl explained. Gust wasn't quite sure what to make of the story as it was. Apparently Ranma had fought alongside the goddesses in their last battle against ASIC and somehow ascended. This made no sense however as she had never heard of something like that happening in the records. You can't just be human and out of nowhere become a goddess. The world wasn't supposed to work like that.

* * *

At that moment, an older woman in Planeptune known as Rei Ryghts sneezed. She didn't know why she had sneezed, but it couldn't have been a good sign. She must have been careless with her health lately and getting a cold. She truly was worthless and pathetic. As it was, she decided that she was going to have to go straight home from work for now. She didn't want to become sick after all. With that in mind, her thoughts eventually went back to her useless goddess. The purple goddess was proof enough that they didn't need a goddess's leadership and protection anymore. Maybe she should start protesting. _Oh well, that will have to wait._

* * *

Blanc was beginning to worry. She had spent the last couple of hours hunting down the errant goddess and what news she did have was not promising. Ranma had last been seen leaving the city in the company of a former alchemist who had recently been charged with criminal negligence. She still could not believe anyone could be dumb enough to perform experimental alchemy within city limits. Not only that, the fool girl had been attempting to replicate Nep Bull of all things. There was a reason none of the other goddesses had sought to undermine Neptune's saving grace after all. That numbskull had let slip, on occasion, some of the secrets of that highly valued drink. Put simply, Planeptune was the only nation in Gamindustri that would produce the stuff since that idiot Neptune was the only goddess irresponsible enough to allow factories that could take out over half a city if they suffered an accident. Seriously, the drink was several times more volatile than nitroglycerin until the stuff was complete. Ever since that discovery, the other nations had been putting in new safety features to protect against the imminent explosion. Histoire was relieved by everyone's efforts. Though it was still a mystery how Neptune got that stuff past her in the first place.

Blanc had to admit that the girl had actually come close to uncovering the secrets of Nep Bull. She even would have succeeded if not for whatever had caused the accident. Not that anything would come of it as Blanc would have brought down the ban hammer on any company that tried to make that stuff in her borders. Still, this was a highly dangerous situation. Ranma was outside the city, unprotected, and in the company of a dangerous individual with a reputation for her business practices. Put simply, this smelled like a set up. _Did that bitch actually pull a fast one on me?_

As she considered this while leaving the city, she heard a voice call out to her. It took a few seconds before Blanc realize it was coming from the sky. She looked up to find Uni in her HDD form flying towards her. _Shit! What the hell Noire!?_ Was one of many thoughts running through Blanc's mind as the CPU candidate of Lastation neared. Now she had all of the potential targets in her country and no additional help. She was going to have to hope Noire was close behind.

"Hey Blanc, Have you seen Nepgear yet? Is she ok?" called out Uni as she landed in front of the Goddess of the North. There was no sight of the older sister anywhere. Blanc was not happy.

"Why are you here? Your sister declined to give aid earlier," She asked the candidate in annoyance. Something felt off.

"Why wouldn't I be here!? Nepgear is in trouble! This is a matter that concerns all of us!" Uni yelled back in defiance. Whatever seemed off about the girl, Blanc could not tell. In any case, it was time to put this idiocy to rest.

"Yes, it is a matter that concerns all of us. Especially you candidates!" Blanc began trying to sound understanding but ended up halfway between the attempt and growling," Let me spell it out for you, you're all targets in this mess and I don't have the time or manpower to deal with protecting another target. Now if you want to help out, go to the Basilicom and help watch over the twins."

The girl seemed to settle down a little at this and nodded in agreement," Ok, but what will you be doing?"

"Ranma left the city a while ago, I have to go find him," Blanc yelled back as she started to head out to the nearest hunting grounds for the guild. Once Blanc was out of sight, Uni deactivated HDD and pulled out her cell phone and turned off the speaker function.

"Did you get that sis?"

* * *

As Ranma and Gust made their way back to Lowee with a good stock of materials to be taken to the guild, Gust could not help but wonder if this Ranma was really a goddess or not. During the entire day, they had avoided any of the usual large threats that goddesses were known to handle and stuck to fights that were c-rank at best. During which, Ranma never seemed to use any power whatsoever. Instead he (- _Don_ _'_ _t know why she insists on being a guy. She_ _'_ _s got a body Gust would kill for!)_ had kept to using basic attacks. Though, Gust had to admit that those were still interesting to see. The way Ranma fought had seemed to be a highly technical fighting style compared the punches and kicks used by most martial artists. Gust may not know much about that stuff, but she had seen some of the on the fields and had watched the one get her butt kicked by Lady White Heart in that dreaded feed. Now that Gust thought about it, Ranma had used some powers in that feed and that was apparently before he became a goddess.

"Hey Ranma!" Gust called out curiously to which Ranma turned her head and nodded in response," Are you really a goddess? Not that Gust doesn't trust you, but you never seem to use any abilities. Do you have a skill seal affect or something? Gust has a remedy for that!"

Ranma took in the question and thought about how to best answer that as she tilted her head back in thought and began to scratch the base of her pigtail before answering," Well ya see, did ya hear about the explosion in the courtyard?" Gust nodded. She had actually seen it after all," Well, that's why. I lost my ki and gained this share energy. Seems something's wrong with it however. So I'm not supposed to use it for the time being."

Gust took that in for a moment and considered what it could possibly mean. _Guess there are problems for a human becoming a goddess after all._ After coming to that brilliant conclusion, she nodded to herself sagely and was about to say something when she was interrupted by a rather familiar voice and unhappy voice," Hey you! Step away from Ranma right now!"

Both of them stopped and focused on the flying figure of the goddess of Lowee. Gust quickly dashed several meters away from Ranma as Ranma yelled out," Hey Blanc! What's up?"

"What's up? We are in the midst of a damn war with that bitch from Leanbox and you, one of her targets, are prancing about in the open with a known deviant who caused a large amount of property damage recently and has a reputation for her greed!" Lady White Heart spat back venomously," Now get your ass over here so I can get you to safety before that maniacal bitch shows up to kidnap you like she did to Nepgear!"

Gust was stunned. The goddesses were at war again. This shortly after the last incident and already a new one had started. Already she was formulating a plan to cash in on this. But first, she needed to make sure she was in on this," Gust can help! Gust is friends wi-"

"No! I already know about your reputation. You're likely to sell us out to that cow. Now get out of here!" Blanc yelled back in anger. Truth was that she was already getting a serious migraine from all the lunacy. The past few days had already done a number on her psyche and Vert's madness was not helping. Nor was the fact that Ranma was not listening to her and was now standing between Blanc and Gust.

"Now hold up! I've been with her all day, and while I admit she does seem to share some traits with someone I know back at home, I'm confident she has more morals than that person," Ranma declared as she stood up for her new friend who was now staring in shock at Ranma to which Ranma turned her head to smirk at the bunny girl," What, you didn't think I wouldn't notice the fact that you guided me away from the guild, you never told me the specifics of your quest, or the fact that we gathered the resources for a number of different quests. After dealing with Nabiki for so long, this was an easy one to spot."

"But why?" was all Gust could say as she continued to stare and feel a little guilty. Blanc actually started to cool down as she landed and approached the two. She didn't release her HDD however. It would be better to be ready for an ambush right now than not. She was however interested in seeing how this would play out. If this went well in the end, Blanc would like to know the extent of Ranma's insight. If Ranma really was to be her candidate, it would be good to know.

"Why go along with it? I didn't need the money from the quests and was only looking to help out some folks while I blew off some steam," Ranma began while maintaining her signature smirk as she looked to Gust. Then she looked back to Blanc as she dropped the smirk and cradled the back of her head with a shrug," As to why I think of you as a friend? Well, it wasn't bad hanging out with ya and you DID pull your own weight in helping get the job done. Ya see, that last part was a very important distinction for me. Nabiki would have never lifted a finger to help unless she had to and even then only to get someone else who could do the job while she went about scamming others. I just thought that having someone like you around could be helpful. You seem a lot more trustworthy."

Blanc sighed in exasperation at Ranma's naïveté," Ranma, that only means she is more likely to drive a dagger in your back herself."

"I don't think she will. She's been trying to be friends with me all day. I offered to do this alone, but she came along and actually helped in earnest. She even offered me some of her medicine when she thought I had an affliction. That's more effort than some would put into making friends and more than many have made in my life," Ranma replied while holding Blanc's gaze. Gust simply looked to her feet during all of this. Her face was hidden by her hair.

"That just means she wants to get close to you to use you," Blanc pointed out calmly. She was really interested in where this would go. She had been paying close attention to Gust through all of this. Ranma grunted in agreement before responding.

"True, but I get the feeling she'll never betray her friends. Having someone like that around on your side can be very useful," Ranma answered with her smirk back in full force and oozing confidence. Gust looked up and actually had tears in her eyes much to Blanc's surprise. Whether they were genuine or an act was yet to be seen however, but Blanc had to admit, Ranma seemed to be natural at finding and setting off flags. Unfortunately, Blanc had a feeling this ability was quite indiscriminate.

As for Ranma, she was being quite sincere. She didn't catch on immediately but had figured out her new friend's deceit a while ago. However, Ranma felt that this person was truly a much better person to have around than Nabiki. Though that wasn't saying much as Ranma was certain that it was Nabiki who had ruined her own sister's wedding for a profit. In spite of that bad habit of hers to betray others over money, Nabiki was clever and very helpful from time to time. Gust seemed to have that same clever trait and business like manner. However, Ranma was almost certain that while the girl may use her, she would never truly betray her. That difference was all Ranma could ever need to consider this girl a friend.

Blanc took what was said in and decided it was for the best to let Ranma have her way on this. So long as Ranma didn't trigger a damn death flag she was fine with it. With this resolve in mind Blanc relaxed and finally powered down believing there would be no ambush for the moment," Fine, but you had better be ready to accept responsibility for what comes of this."

At this, Gust cheered up a bit and actually tackle-hugged Ranma while enthusiastically thanking her.

* * *

Elsewhere Vert was preparing for the first true battle in her war. So far her first two conquests had taken little effort to pull off and she had gotten wind a little while ago that things had come along even better than she had hoped. The only real problem had been the lack of time. Too many pieces had fallen right into place too quickly. However, she had made it and the trap was set. Vert smiled as her awaited guest of honor showed up.

* * *

Mina had been watching over the twins and been hard pressed to keep them in their rooms. She had actually been relieved when Neptune had awoken and helped out by playing with the twins. It had been comical to see the CPU wake up in confusion and walk around in a daze. It would seem Blanc had succeeded in giving the purplette a slight case of amnesia as she didn't even remember leaving for Lowee. However, the real relief had been when Uni showed up to help out. Uni had been an unexpected surprise since her big sister had refused to give aid at this time. Though now that she thought about it, the candidates did seem to be closer than their older sisters. In any case, Uni had been a big help and had even offered to go get some drinks and snacks for everyone.

Sadly, things just weren't meant to remain peaceful. Uni came rushing back with a tray in her hands and a guard at her side.

"Oracle! We have an emergency! We just received word at the south gate-"

* * *

Ranma, Gust, and Blanc were making their way back on foot and were just coming into view of the southern gate when it happened. An explosion erupted from beneath the group and scattered them. Ranma and Blanc had been the first to recover. Unfortunately, Gust had not been as tough as the two goddesses and now lies unconscious. Ranma quickly rushed to her aid as Blanc transformed into an utterly pissed off Lady White Heart. A laugh filled the air at first but was cut off as a certain green goddess took note of the harm caused by her partner.

"Now that was not how this was supposed to go. You were supposed to have set it off sooner. Look what you've done now," She calmly scolded Nepgear who was holding a detonator. Nepgear merely shrugged as she tossed the detonator away as she silently mouthed an "oops" to her partner.

"You BITCH!" White Heart screamed furiously with her dark expression and glowing red eye. She was unbelievably pissed off as her axe materialized in her hands.

"Oh my, I am truly sorry for that. However let's get down to business," Vert responded as she went HDD and brought her spear to bear," Give me my little sister and I can be on my way."

Blanc quivered in rage as she hefted her axe," Oh, I'll give you something all right you damned utter brained piece of shit!"

As White heart began her charge toward Green Heart, Nepgear took a few timid steps back from the fight and Vert readied her weapon," Oh well, so much for diplomacy."

With that the battle between the two goddesses began. Vert used her spearhead to redirect Blanc's axe chop to the side and followed through with a twist of her waist to bring the blunt end crashing down against Blanc's exposed backside. It connected with a crunch as the axe head buried itself in the ground. Vert grinned in satisfaction for landing the first blow of this battle only to be caught off guard in her hubris by a counter attack of Blanc's own. She had used the force of Vert's attack coupled with that of her charge to swing about the grounded axe to deliver a kick to the other goddess's ribs. Vert was sent flying a few meters before she regained control in midair. At the same time Blanc ripped her own weapon out of the Earth. Both women stared at one another determinedly as they gathered share energy into their respective weapons.

During this, Ranma checked on Gust while trying to keep an eye on the traitorous candidate in case she tried to interfere in the fight.

The goddesses charged at one another. Their weapons were glowing with the power of faith. Vert shot forth far faster than Blanc and struck a direct blow on the small goddess that redirected Blancs Momentum back towards the ground. The white goddess came crashing down and skid across the ground. She had dug a rent in it. Vert continued to press her advantage by using her speed to chase after her downed foe with a mighty thrust of her still glowing spear. An explosion rocked the surrounding area as the ground gave way to the force of the blow. Light filled everyone's vision. On the heels of the first thunderous roar not even a split second later came another. Finally as the light died down, Blanc was found kneeling and panting while leaning on her giant axe for support at the bottom of a massive crater. Vert, unexpectedly was a bit further away at the end of a newly formed ravine in much the same state. Blanc actually took the full force of Vert's blow just so she could do much the same in turn when dodging and blocking would no longer be possible. They breathed heavily as they looked at one another.

"My oh my… that was quite unexpected, but… I should have known better," Vert commented between deep breaths. She had not meant to go all out like this, but she had become a bit vindictive when the little upstart got her in the ribs. Not only that, but her plan had been put to risk by this one mistake. _Oh well, this should be good enough._ Taking a moment she pulled out a cell phone and sent a quick text.

"The hell ya doing!?" demanded an exhausted but still furious Blanc. Vert just ignored her as she got a text back for a moment before sighing.

"Well, this is bad. It would seem I made a mistake," Vert admitted tiredly.

"Ya damn right! Now stand still while I come over there to lob your fucking head off!" Blanc growled out as she stood fully up and hefted her axe once more.

"Oh no, I would suggest you get to your sisters now. It would seem the plan to capture them already started," Vert said a touch bashfully as she put her weapon away," Oh and thanks again for the help Nepgeo!" She called to her partner who now began run like hell as Vert fled the scene with all the strength she could muster. Ranma and Blanc just stayed where they were stunned for a few seconds before they began to panic and rush towards the city. Just as they were heading to the new problem, Purple Heart arrived on the scene.

"Is my sister still here?" She asked.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: this is a FANfiction. Note the word fan. Yeah, I'm just a fan of these series and don't own them... why do I keep writing these disclaimers for the painfully obvious? Oh well.

AN- Hey, I'm back again! First and foremost, about this chapter. **SPOILERISH-** If you like Akane or feel I am being too harsh, please try to understand there were certain circumstances involved in this chaper. **END**. Now in case some of you haven't noticed, I have begun updating my profile. Still not much on it, but I have included a status update for chapters. With that all said, have fun (hopefully!). And for those who don't... please don't hurt me!

* * *

"DAMN IT NEPTUNE!" White Heart screamed and then winced in pain," You had one job, ONE JOB", wince," around here and you blew it!"

Purple Heart stared on in confusion for a second trying to understand what was going on. Ranma stepped in," We need ta hurry! The twins were the real target!"

At this everyone got ready to start heading when another bomb came hurtling in their midst. Ranma jumped back with a still unconscious Gust on her back. Unfortunately, Blanc was too injured to get out and was caught in the blast. She fell to the ground unconscious and out of HDD. Purple heart had been to confused to even notice the bomb in time and was now picking herself up out of a nearby wall. The road to Lowee now had a large crater.

"Sorry to ruin your plans," Said a familiar voice as the Nepgear imposter showed herself once more wielding a lead pipe with a mischievous grin," Ya know what? Nah I ain't sorry and I'm looking to pay you all back!"

* * *

"What is it you have to report?" Mina asked as Uni walked past them and handed the girls some hot chocolate with marshmallows. The soldier was highly agitated.

"We just got a report in from the southern gate Ma'am; there was a large explosion there and reports of both Lady Green Heart and Nepgear confronting Lady White Heart and those with her," the white dressed soldier of Lowee reported as she gave the oracle a salute. Shortly after the report began the twins had already fallen asleep. Mina guessed they had been more tired than she thought. _At least this will make them easier to watch for now._ She thought to herself. Neptune however seemed highly distressed.

Before Neptune could even asked what was on her mind, Mina answered," I'm pretty sure we have things taken care of here. Go ahead," Neptune was relieved as she went running past the other soldiers, out of the room, and down the hall before going HDD to fly down it. Hopefully she'll realize she can fly out of a window of balcony soon. Mina then went about tucking the sleeping twins into bed. As she was finishing this, noise of combat arose in the hallway. The soldiers poured out to aid the others. Mina was almost out of the door when she saw the Purple Sister in full HDD assaulting her troops. That was the last thing she saw before fell unconscious to a rifle butt from behind.

Uni stood over the woman as she put her gun away to pull out a pair of sleeping bags. As her beloved sister went about taking out the guards, she went about transferring the twins to warm, full body sleeping bags perfectly sized for them. Big sister truly was amazing. As Uni and Nepgear finished their respective jobs, Uni's cell phone received a text.

"How is everything my sweet little sisters?" is what it basically ready, but let's not get into the details of the various emoticons used.

"We have them and are just leaving big sis," was Uni's reply more or less. There were some emoticons as well but not many.

With that taken care of, Uni greeted her sister as she came into the room," Good job sis," a chaste kiss on the lips with a hug," Now let's get our little sisters out of here."

* * *

"Wait, that voice!" Purple said in mild surprise," Are you-"

"Yup, that's right! It's-" Nepgeo began as she grabbed her costume to rip it off anime style to reveal that it was-" Li-"

"Minion!" Purple Heart finished for her. Minion was pissed.

"Dammit I told you before it's not Minion! It's-" She began once more

"Yo Minion Lady, what's up? Decided to be Vert's minion or something after the love tap I gave you last time?" Ranma broke in with a grin. She caught on pretty quick on the best way to piss this chick off and a pissed off enemy was an easier one.

"Damn you red, don't know who you are bitch, but-" the lightly purple skinned girl started again only to be interrupted by the goddess of Planeptune tapping her shoulder," Dammit will you just-" she began again as she turned to the goddess only to find a black and purple katana blade at her throat.

"Where is my sister," the goddess asked calmly. Minion was starting to sweat.

"Oh her, well she's probably kidnapping those twin brats as we speak. If you hurry you might catch them," Before she had even finished, the goddess had flown off at top speed. Ranma had moved to Blanc during all of this and now had a girl over each shoulder. She was about to make a ran after Neptune but found herself blocked off by a lead pipe in the minion's grasp," Now where do you think you're going bitch?"

"What do you want with me? Still angry from the last time we met?" Ranma answered as she backed off to gently set the others down.

"There you go talking out of your ass again! I never saw ya before, but since you seem to know these goddesses, I thought I'd get some answers," the thug girl went on.

"And I would answer you why?" Ranma asked defiantly.

"Oh, that's simple. 'Cause if you don't, you get to answer to my weapon here and if that's not enough I still get plenty more bombs to lob around," the minion girl answered sinisterly. Ranma nodded in acknowledgement of the threat. Fact was that while she was confident she could still beat her, she was not so confident about her ability to protect her friends while trying to fight this chick without any of her abilities say for pure skill," Good, now tell me where that bastard who dresses like you ran off to."

Now Ranma came to a realization. The last time she had fought her, she was a guy and this girl had never seen her curse or knew of it. Then a plan hatched in her mind. With this Ranma started to turn on a little of the old Ranko act," Oh my, him? Uh, you see, he went off on a training trip last I heard. I think there was something about going to Leanbox to swim? Not quite sure, but that's all I know minion lady."

That answer seemed to satisfy the minion as she turned to leave. After a few steps she took out a bomb," Oh, and before I forget, the name's LINDA, BITCH!" she yelled before tossing it at Ranma and continuing on her way. At the time Ranma did the only thing she could think of to protect the others, she leapt forward and kicked the bomb away while mentally cursing herself for the slip of tongue. Unfortunately, she was still caught in the blast and sent flying back toward her friends. The impact knocked her out.

* * *

Elsewhere sometime later, the twins woke up in an unfamiliar room to find Uni and Nepgear. The twins looked alarmed at first but were quickly calmed down when they found themselves in a group hug with the older candidates looking relieved.

"Thank goodness you two are ok!" Nepgear whispered.

"Yeah, with what happened, we had been worried you two might never wake up!" Uni added as she tightened her hug with tears rolling down her eyes. This brought the twins to worry a little.

"What… happened?" Rom began slowly.

"Yeah, what's going on, last I remember, we were being kept in our room!" Ram followed up. To this question, Nepgear and Uni each took a seat on both sides of the bed the twins had woke up in and pulled on of the twins to sit in their lap. Nepgear took Rom and Uni had Ram.

"The truth is that things have gone badly," Nepgear began slowly as fresh tears stained her eyes," Gamindustri has fallen into a war led by Lowee-"

* * *

Vert watched this little drama unfold on a tablet in a nearby room. Of her sisterly conquests, the twins would be the hardest to bring around. However, Vert had come up with a truly diabolical plan. It was based on Blanc's own character weaknesses. First was the fact that the girl was fairly inept at expressing herself to others unless she was angry. This meant that even her sisters were not likely to truly understand her. If she had to guess, they probably play pranks on her and do whatever it takes to get attention from the recluse. In fact, Nepgear had confirmed all she needed to on this matter. The second was the fact that Blanc is the goddess most prone to violence. That had lent itself handily to her needs. So it was that she had begun to weave a web of lies and had a week long plan designed to do several things. She would shake their view of their sister and slowly supplant that barbaric woman's place in their hearts. Then she would slowly implant ideas of sisterhood. The best part of the plan was that it would be Blanc herself to deal the final blow to their world view in one week from now. When that time finally arose, it would lead to her final conquest. Vert smiled sinisterly at the screen as she watched the twins struggle in their denials. _Soon I_ _'_ _ll have my vaunted throne as the sister of sisters!_

* * *

Blanc woke up in her room and found that she had been healed. She checked a digital clock and founf it was morning. When she tapped the date display button, she found it had only been one day. She sighed as she got out of the bed and went to change into some clothes that were not scuffed up and dirty. As she left the room, she found a grim faced Mina walking down the hall. At the sight of her goddess up and well again, Mina seemed to relax a little, but the still seemed to be something forlorn within her eyes as she approached Blanc and gave a bow.

"It is good to see you are well Lady White Heart," She greeted formally as she came out of the bow. The greeting confused Blanc.

"Good to see you… What happened?" Blanc replied in an even tone. She could tell that things could not be going well. In all honesty, she was not too happy with herself. She had somehow failed to read her old rival correctly.

"My Lady, I have failed you… The twins are gone," Mina began and awaited a response from Blanc demanding more. All she got was for her goddess to dejected hang her head. Seeing no interruption to come, she went on," We were deceived. After Neptune left to aid you and attempt to save her sister, that very sister had somehow infiltrated the Basilicom and began an assault on the guards. Then… we were betrayed be Uni… I haven't contacted Noire yet because I've been so busy since my own recovery that I had forgotten."

Blanc remained speechless for a moment as she let the totality of her defeat sink in. Vert had actually outmaneuvered her. She must have somehow intercepted Uni in route and brainwashed her in record time. How the bitch had managed to pull it off was beyond her. This scenario was unbelievable as it was. Vert had never been this good at planning. Not unless it was one of her damn games… That was when she realized something she had overlooked. Vert was a hardcore gamer across multiple genres including strategy, date sims and visual novels of all kinds and is the leader of one of the top rated guilds in Four Goddesses Online. This meant Vert had the mental capacity. When the woman had finally snapped she must have lost sight of her perception of reality. She was now using all that gamer skill and knowledge with unbelievable results. As Blanc went over this on her mind, she stood silently. That when another thought occurred to her. She looked up in deep worry at her oracle and demanded," What happened to Ranma!?"

Mina did not answer at first. Her head was downcast as she contemplated the best way to deal with telling her goddess about that new set of developments…

* * *

Gust woke up to find she was in an unfamiliar room. By the looks of it, she would have to guess it belonged to someone pretty well of based on the furnishings and design of the room. She was still feeling a little sore from whatever had happened the previous day. She could still remember how Ranma had actually stood up for her and made friends with her. She blushed a little at this as it was a little embarrassing to remember that. The fact the Ranma had actually went along with being scam and figured her out had been quite a shock. This Nabiki person Ranma mentioned must have been even shrewder than she was for Ranma to have caught on. The real shocker though was that despite all of this, Ranma was still willing to be her friend. She smiled at the thought. Then she remembered what had happened before she woke up here. She frantically got out of the bed and rushed to the door and flung it open. As she ran out of it, she bumped into someone and fell back.

"Whoah there girl, cool your jets," the Lowee soldier ordered as she knelt down to help Gust back up," There, much better, now where's the fire?"

"Gust needs to find friend. Gust worried!" the bunny themed girl stated with obvious worry written on her face. The guard looked down at her with searching eyes before nodding.

"Tell me, this 'friend' of yours wouldn't happen to be the new goddess around here would she?" She ask to which Gust nodded vigorously," Well, if you promise no more funny business for now, I can take you to her."

"Gust stared at the guard in confusion for a bit before she realized the guard must know about her and her reputation. She then nodded once more and promised sincerely," Gust promise!"

The soldier smiled at that and led the way down some hall and up a few floors where they came across a heavily guarded room. There was a small exchange between the soldiers before Gust was waved in. When she entered the room, she saw Ranma lying in a bed still asleep. By the bed was a girl a little bigger than gust with purple hair that had been worriedly watching over Ranma and had a pile of empty pudding containers next to her. The girl was unmistakably the goddess of Planeptune itself.

Neptune looked over at the new arrival and stared for a moment as if trying to recall something. Then she remembered," Ah! It's Blanc's fellow harem member!"

* * *

"WHAT!?" Blanc demanded as her oracle pulled out this morning newspaper. On the front page was an article about the assault. She flipped to a page further in that showed the rest of the article that further detailed the events of yesterday. Along with it was a secondary article titled "New goddess of love?" along with a disturbing image. It showed her, Ranma, and Gust unconscious against a wall. That wasn't the disturbing part however. What was disturbing, however, was their positions. Blanc and Gust were both on either side of Ranma and resting their heads on her bosom with their respective hats having fallen beside them. As if to make it worse, Ranma had an arm draped over each girl and was resting her own head on Blanc. The goddess of Lowee was struck silent at this. She had no idea how to react to the embarrassing photo. After a moment of staring at the photo, Mina cleared her throat to get Blanc's attention.

"I'm afraid it get's worse. You're not going to like this but the article itself is the crux of the matter," Mina explained. Blanc then went to reading the article itself. What she found was utter idiocy. The story told of the brave heroics of the new goddess actually shielding her two friends with her body and with the last of her strength brought the two into an intimate hug. It stated that this touching scene however had a deeper meaning that was revealed by the arrival of Neptune who had returned to her normal self after it became known that they had failed. Upon her arrival at the scene, reporters who had arrived before her had been shocked to hear that the new goddess was in fact a master of harem making. At that moment, Blanc began to shake violently before ripping the paper in half.

" **NEPTUNE!** " She ferociously howled at the top of her lungs her voice cracking from the intensity of her rage. Mina had long since fled the scene.

* * *

Gust stood there in confusion at the girl's declaration before tilting her head to indicate her confusion," Gust don't follow. Gust is Ranma's friend. Not her lover."

"D'aw, how sweet! She's being bashful. That Ranma is sure some piece of work. She truly is the martial arts harem master! I mean seriously, she didn't just manage to entice you but somehow broke through to Blanc of all people! That's a true master alright!" Neptune ranted on as she completely ignored all of Gust's attempt to dispel this misunderstanding. That when Neptune produced a photo," I mean seriously you all make such a good group! It's adorable! Ah, you're blushing, see I knew loved her!"

Yes, Gust was blushing, but not quite for the reasons that Neptune was thinking. Gust felt embarrassed by the intimacy of the photo and the fact that not only had it been taken but that the photo was in someone else's possession. She began to flail her arms about desperately trying to get the picture while now babbling unintelligibly. She was completely flustered. Neptune was having fun playing keep away and teasing the poor girl.

" **NEPTUNE!** " came the shrill howl of rage that had such intensity as to promise death. Neptune paled and gulped when she realized she was a goner if she didn't get going quickly especially when she heard a thunderous crash. Unfortunately, it was at that time that Ranma awoke. It was most likely due to the yell and massive wave of killing intent that was now flooding the entirety of the basilicom. Ranma immediately sprung to life from her bed and began looking around in terrified confusion.

"Now look Akane, I-" she began before her brain caught up with the situation and remembered that there was no way for Akane to get here. Pig breath might be able to, but Ranma sorely doubted her rival could get that lost. As she looked around to assess the situation, she found Gust and Neptune staring at her with a bit of relief. That was when she noticed the photo in Neptune's hand. She didn't get a clear look at it but apparently the purplette didn't like the fact she noticed it. The girl began to pale again when she remembered her certain doom to come and was about to make a run for it through the closed window. Ranma was not about to let her go however if she had a suspicious photo. Ranma had been burned too many times in the past by such things. As such, Ranma managed to block off Neptune's escape route. The purple goddess began to break out in a sweat. That was when another booming crash came. This time it took out the ceiling and Neptune found herself buried in the rubble.

"Where is she?" demanded Blanc icily as she hefted her hammer. Her expression was far more terrifying than ever before. It was then that Ranma noticed the picture floating in the air and grabbed it. She did not like what she saw. That was when the whole situation triggered another ingrained response. Ranma began to back away in terror from Blanc and began to cower in a corner while babbling on about how this wasn't her fault. Blanc didn't even notice as she had found her target trying to escape from under the rubble. Neptune's torment followed soon after.

Gust on the other hand noticed Ranma's action and went to her side to try and bring her out of it. Ranma had been completely unresponsive. All she saw was Akane standing before her in righteous fury. Ranma had never felt this much terror in her presence before. The stress of Blanc's extreme presence had been too much for Ranma's mind. Eventually as the sounds of Neptune's furious beating and cries of pain rushed over her and drowning out all of Gust's efforts, Ranma blacked out.

* * *

Neptune had been taken away to be treated for her injuries when Blanc had finished with her. Now Blanc, Gust, and Mina watched over a newly unconscious Ranma in a new room. As they watched over the red head, Mina interrogated Gust on what happened. What she found out was not pleasant.

"I'm afraid that Ranma has even more mental trauma than I initially thought," the oracle of Lowee stated sadly.

"What do you mean be more? I thought you already expected something like this," Blanc demanded in confusion.

"The problem is I had originally made some assumptions. One of them was that Ranma's father was the cause of all if not most of the problems we'd find. However, what happened here does not add up with that assumption. This seemed to be a deeply ingrained fear response to a person, and from the way Ranma described her father, I doubt the man would ever be able to evoke this kind of response," Mina explained like the scholar she was," This opens the door to the possibility that more people were involved in abusing her."

Blanc was not happy about this latest development. She was actually worried for the unfortunate martial artist. She contemplated the situation for a moment," Mina, as your goddess I am making an order. With things as they are, we are treading on dangerous grounds with Ranma due to the Vert situation. As such I do not want Ranma to leave this room and I want you to find out the truth of Ranma's past. We have been making too many wrong assumptions as of late. Also, as much as I hate to do this… call off the search for the others and establish a perimeter. Vert seems to be using some form of brainwashing on her victims. I do not want to consider what could happen to Ranma if anything else was done to her mind."

* * *

Elsewhere another scream filled the halls of a Basilicom. This scream, however, was not one of rage. It was filled with pent up frustration. Chika stormed out of her office much to the surprise of her guards. They had never seen this bad off before. The problem was that the entirety of the current situation had never happened before. It was getting to be too much for her. Over THREE YEARS had passed during that horrid ordeal had begun and now, even though it had been solved, her beloved goddess still had yet to give her the attention she yearned so desperately for. It was all that Ranma's fault. First that _person_ dared to seduce her Vert with the prospects of being both male and female. Then the dirty little thief had gone off to get the affections of Vert's long time former enemy. The shear insult that anyone could cast her lady aside for that underdeveloped slip of a girl was galling. Had it ended there, however, she might have forgiven Ranma as it would have meant the loss of a fierce competitor for Vert's affections. Instead, that person had to go and become a goddess and entice her lady with the promise of a sister that Vert had not so secretly desired after all this time and turned around to the same upstart girl. Vert had been so heart broken that it had driven her to madness. These offenses had truly become unforgiveable. Even then however, it was still a matter that could wait until her lady was back to normal. The last straw however had been the revelation of the bitch's true plan. She wasn't interested in just Blanc. Ranma was out to claim the affections of all the goddesses and had already begun to make a HAREM! Ranma had to have been playing hard to get for the sole purpose of driving Vert to this point in the hopes of bring her into this harem… Chika would make Ranma pay for stealing away her long awaited affections from her beloved goddess. She will deal with the vile temptress!

* * *

As the group watched over Ranma in Lowee, the emergency work laptops and two small desks were brought in so the goddess and her oracle could get back to work while maintaining their vigil. They had too many pressing matters that could no longer wait. They had years of paper work that had yet to fully be handled. Mina had done an admirable job of it, but she had to also care for the twins at that. This left a lot of it unfinished. Another issue, the more pressing one in Blanc's opinion, was sending e-mails and notifications to the various news hubs in Lowee to perform damage control for their latest scandal. Also, there was a number of fresh property damage reports to go through and handle. True as it may be that none of the attacks ever hit the city in the recent battles, but the shockwaves of attacks like the ones from her fight with Vert can cause some damage. This was no big deal as all that really needed to be done was make a call and scratch up the funds for the repairs. Lowee had the best construction companies in all of Gamindustri after all though Mina always seemed to frown whenever Blanc brought this fact up. As thoughts like these went through Blanc's head, her work laptop finished booting up. When it finished loading, she found hundreds of missed calls and messages from Noire. She sighed before turning her head to her oracle," Mina."

"Yes?" Mina answered as her system finally booted up as well. Before Blanc even said a word, Mina's face lit up in realization as she gazed at much the same from Kei. Then her face paled as she read the latest messages. This confused Blanc for a moment until a commotion arose outside in the hallway and a familiar voice filtered through.

"Let me through now! My sister has been tangled up in this mess and I demand to see Blanc about it!" Noire's voice filtered through. Blanc took a moment to glare at Mina and jerking her head toward the door. She was not dealing with anymore of this mess if she had to. Mina acknowledged the message and went to the door to clean up her own mess. She really should have made more of an effort to contact Lastation. As she opened the door and began to greet the foreign goddess, she was cut off by Noire noticing her and lodging an onslaught of demands and questions," What happened to my sister! Why was I not notified at all! Why have you discontinued the search!? I demand you take responsibility for thi-"

On and on the furious tirade went on with Mina unable to get a word in edgewise with the nearly hysterical Noire. Blanc began to groan as she massaged her temple. She really didn't need this right now," Shut the hell up and you might get some answers!" She yelled out. This actually managed to reign Noire in a little as she stopped to take a step past Mina to glare imperiously at her fellow goddess. Blanc did not like that look and decided to get some facts straight right now," First off, your sister was already caught be Vert before she even got here. She aided in the capture of MY sisters. Secondly, this likely would have never happened if you had actually come to our aid when we first requested it. As such you are just as responsible as anyone else for this if not more so on the exception of Vert. Also if you want to find the girls, send out your own forces! We can't afford to risk Ranma at the mo-"

Noire had actually had the common courtesy to look ashamed at this until toward the end. As soon as she found out, she HAD done precisely that. Speaking of which, she had yet to hear why she had not been notified sooner! The mention of Blanc's reasons for calling off the search was Ranma set her off," Are you telling me that crap about the harem is true!? Even for you, that's kind of low to use Ranma as a replacement for-" Before she could even finish that sentence, a loud smack sounded through the now silent room. Blanc stood before Noire with a dark expression as Noire recollected herself and touched the cheek that Blanc had just slapped. Silence held the room for a moment before it was finally broken.

"I would never do such a thing to my sisters," Blanc began as she looked up at Noire with tears beginning to well," If matters were so simple I would send everything I had out to hunt them down even if I had to do a full scale assault on Leanbox. I would," Blanc stopped for a moment to let that sink in as the tears finally began to spill," Unfortunately, I was left with a situation where I had to weigh someone suffering irreparable mental damage against their immediate safety. Whatever Vert has done to control her victims, it is clearly a form of brainwashing. Our sisters should be able to recover from that given time, but due to evidence of Ranma having severe mental trauma already, we have reasons to believe that whatever method Vert uses could very well break her mind forever. That is why I have been forced into such a defensive stance."

Noire finally understood the situation and nodded in understanding.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Ah monotony, why must you plague me so?

AN: Hey guys, got some quick stuff to say to clear the air for what happened last chapter:

"As for what happened here, there are several factors in effect. One, is the fact that Blanc was that scary and gave off THAT MUCH killing intent as to cause this. Two, note that Ranma's reaction to this scary Blanc did not occur until after he saw tho photo and associated Blanc's anger to himself as the situation began to unfold in his mind like one that had happened many times before (only Blanc's presence was several magnitudes worse than even what I presented at the failed wedding). Finally, there are other factors as well that I will not go into detail."

So understand. There is a reason that this happened. I won't be going full bore on what is the deal at the moment, but I will add a quick comparison for how badly Ranma was overwhelmed. Akane's presence when angry might fill a room. Blanc's filled the entirety of the Lowee Basilicom. That is a hell of a lot more. Also let me air out something about Akane. I am not a fan, but I will try to be fair to her... TRY... On a side note: if Akane x Ranma is your thing, congrats! You have the manga cannon in your court (and I love the manga!). Just know that ANY story I write will likely lack this pairing. That being said, let's move onto this chapter. I apologize if the pacing seems off. Now that all being said, on to the chapter!

* * *

Gust sat by the bed watching over Ranma. It had been a full day since her friend had last been awake. Noire had remained to help out with protecting Ranma as her soldiers went on the move to locate Vert's whereabouts. During that time, Neptune had recovered, and after a scathing lecture from both Noire and Blanc about her most recent blunder in all regards, she joined in on the vigil. However, it was quickly becoming obvious that the goddess of Planeptune was having trouble staying focused as nothing was happening. As such, Blanc relented and had a tv and game system set up in the room. Neptune's presence was all that was required for the time being. As for Noire, she would have been fairly attentive if left to her devices, but she ended up giving into Neptune's taunts a few hours later and they have been trying to soundly beat each other since. As for Blanc, she and Mina had set about doing their level best to get caught up on their paperwork.

As for Gust, she sat in a chair next to Ranma's bed trying to keep herself busy with a book. Unfortunately, the story was very bad. When she had finally got sick of trying to read the thing, she decided to check who the author was. That's when she discovered that the Author was in the room. Rather than throw the book away in disgust and bringing the wrath of Lady White Heart upon her, she chose to pretend to read it very slowly until she could get rid of it safely. As such, she had quite a lot of time to think about things.

It was already in the afternoon when Mina paused in her work load to check up on Ranma's condition.

"Something isn't right," She said as she checked over Ranma," Since she's a goddess, she should have already recovered."

"Maybe the shock of Blanc's unholy rage was that bad?" Neptune chimed in.

"Do you want a second beating for that? I'm still dealing with the scandal you caused," Blanc threatened calmly from behind her laptop. Neptune trembled a little at that and began to shake her head in denial," Good," Blanc said as she glanced at Neptune," Is there anything else that might be affecting Ranma?"

"Well, there are a variety of afflictions only known to affect goddesses such as bad end syndrome, but I'm not seeing any sign-," Mina began as she studied the red head. It was the realization that there was something that could be affecting Ranma that caused her to pause.

* * *

Red finally made it into a town without having that meanie chasing her through and out of it. Ever since she found that wonderful gift she intended for Lady White Heart to lead her away from the clutches of that wifey stealer, that justice wifey had been chasing her like crazy. She had given up all hope of avoiding her route, but Red just knew that eventually all the encounters between them were going to earn enough points soon enough. She only hoped it was sooner now than later so she can stop running. In any case, she had a moment in town and that meant some rest with decent food, but first, she went to a newsstand to find out what had been going on. It wouldn't be up to date because this was a small town and barely one at that. What she found was a horrifying story. As she read the report of her CPU wifeys battling each other over their younger sisters, she was very saddened. She had to do something about this soon. She was interested to find out the wifey stealer was a goddess named Ranma. As she finished that horrible tale, she came across the follow up article about the new goddess.

* * *

Ranma awoke with a start. For some reason she felt a chill go down her spine. It was the feeling of a now forgone conclusion that had doomed her fate. She didn't know what was to come, but she was certain she was not going to be happy when she found out. It was in the midst of these contemplations that she found herself in a hug by Gust and Mina looking over her intently. Mina seemed relieved as she brushed off whatever concern she had and started to head back to her work when she was met by a look from Blanc.

Mina had forgotten her lady's order the previous in her momentary worry over Ranma's condition. Now that Ranma was back, it was time to take care of some long overdue issues," Everyone, I'm afraid I'll need you all to clear the room. There is a private matter that I need to attend to with Ranma"

Gust remembered what had been ordered and quickly vacated the room while giving one last relieved glance at her friend. Neptune began to head out without a care in the world. She might be a little curious on what was going on, but she was not in the mood to risk Blanc's further wrath. Noire, on the other hand, had no such compulsion," Why should we? Aren't we supposed to be watching over her at all times? What if Vert is just waiting for us to drop our guard?"

"This is a private matter Noire and none of your business. This is a matter for Lowee. And in case you haven't noticed, this is an inner room of the basilicom. Notice the lack of windows? Now get going," Blanc explained menacingly from behind her laptop. She was not going to take any crap from the tsundere of Lastation and especially after she overstepped her bounds so brazenly yesterday. Once the room was clear, all that remained were Ranma, Mina, and Blanc.

"So what's the deal?" Ranma asked worriedly.

"The deal is you got some problems and you're gonna help us figure out how to fix them," Blanc answered as she continued to work.

"Ranma, something happened yesterday that has given us more concern than before about you. We were going to let you help us handle the issue in time at your own pace. However, we no longer have that luxury. With things as they are, we're going to have to ask you to tell us more about yourself," Mina explained as calmly as she could. Ranma looked a bit confused, but in the end shook her head.

"Not really interested in sharin' my past. Falcom asked about it and now you are. What's the deal?" Ranma answered. Mina sighed at this. She was afraid Ranma would be defensive about the matter.

"Ranma, you had an episode and blacked out yesterday, and no, it was not your nekoken," Mina pressed on," We are worried about you Ranma. With how things are, it could end very badly if we don't do something about this weakness of yours-"

"I am not weak! I'm the best martial artist there is!" Ranma cut in at the perceived insult.

"I'm not talking about your martial prowess Ranma. I am talking about your mind," Mina corrected.

"Now listen here, I'm not stupid. Just 'cause I can't get good grades in high school don't mean a thing. Not my fault I barely had an education before!" Ranma shouted back indignantly. Well, that was a start for Mina. Ranma had little to no education before being tossed into a high school for some reason. However, Mina finally knew how to broach the situation.

"Ranma, I am not insulting you. What I am talking about is something more dangerous to you. This is not a matter of intelligence. This is a matter of your mental health, and please be quiet until I am done. You have a disturbing weakness there that anyone could easily exploit. We're worried about you because, if this weakness is exploited the wrong way, you could be driven to an insanity from which there may be no return. If you cooperate, we can figure out how to fix this problem of yours. It could even mean solving your problem with nekoken," Mina explained as bluntly as she was able. It took a moment for Ranma to process it, but when she did, she finally relented.

* * *

It was nighttime and Ranma had only gotten to her first night at the Tendo residence. During those hours of recounting, Mina had listened quietly as she took notes and only interrupting to get better details. She was keeping her mind clinically detached as she listened. The shocking point, if anyone had cared to notice, was that Blanc had remained silent throughout. If one were to look on the scene, they might believe that Blanc had been ignoring what she heard and simply been buried in her work. That illusion, however, would be quickly dispelled with one look at her keyboard. It was in ruins. The only thing that had really kept her quiet had been the fact that the ones for which she wished to unleash her wrath were not present. As such, she had been listening on as she made a mental list of names, descriptions, and what she planned to do if she ever met them. This wasn't to say Ranma was not at fault. Hardly in fact, Blanc already had plans to educate Ranma on her own mistakes in the matter. She had no intention of holding anything Ranma did as a child against her, but there were quite a few things that needed to be looked at in the more recent parts of the story. Ranma did not handle that first day the Tendos well at all. She had perpetuated a lie without immediately trying to clear it up for one. She had even gone as far as acting as a whole other person. That and the insults later on made it clear that Ranma was clearly in the wrong. Not fully though, Ranma did have a severe lack of social skills as well as being raised by that panda of a father. Blanc was also considering whether or not to move pandas from the endangered list to the extinct one. Only considering it as she would not seriously wipe out a species just because of the actions of one man. As it was, they called a break for dinner. The others were let back in as Blanc an Mina left to the room across the hall.

"Well, that was fairly bad," Mina said as lounged back in her chair to finally allow her feelings some leeway.

"Mina, I know I'm not going to like what I hear anymore than what I just sat through, but how bad is it?" Blanc asked as calmly as she could allow. Mina knew the signs well enough and could tell that her goddess was seething inside. The only reason she had not blown yet was because there was not a proper outlet.

"Well… I'd say we'll have our work cut out for us. This could take years, but at least I'm sure it can't get much worse. We only have over a year to go now. Can't be that much worse than the previous sixteen," Mina answered. As such, they discussed the details and what would have to be done about them as they ate.

* * *

Meanwhile, Vert had not been happy to find that there had been no search parties from Lowee as of yet. She was very frustrated with this in fact as she had been planning to use their presence to enforce the story she had spun. In fact, the only reason she chose to set up in a small town to the west of Lowee had been to ensure discovery and the possible conflict to come as she performed a daring rescue to facilitate their escape to else where. Then she had planned to push harder for setting them up for a direct conflict with Blanc. However, Blanc was not acting the way she normally would. Vert had been contemplating various reasons for the past hour or so since she realized that the soldiers weren't even coming. This town should have had a search party at about noon. Eventually Vert decided that she needed more information. So it was that she went to the newsstand nearby and got a paper on yesterday's events. What she found was not at all what she expected. She knew Neptune well enough to know better than to believe the article at first glance, but she also realized it made a disturbing amount of sense if it was true. She was going to have to alter the plan as it was, but first, she needed more information.

* * *

The four candidates were finishing a late dinner together and bonding as usual when a new figure entered the room. It was a very unhappy Vert. The twins were a little confused at first. According to the story they were told, the goddesses were supposed to be locked in combat at this very moment. They didn't entirely believe the story when they heard it. Now they had no reason to at all.

"I am sorry," the goddess of Leanbox said to the now quiet room," I must confess that this was part of an elaborate ruse to test something. However, I am truly sorry for what I have found. I must confess that I was always curious about the bonds you hold that I was denied time and again. I even wished to have them, to revel in them even. So far things had gone as I had hoped to see. Your sisters fighting valiantly to protect you and even making mistakes as they let their feelings for you all foil their own planning. However, I have discovered something that I cannot let go unpunished."

At this, she tossed a newspaper onto the table for the twins to see. It was opened to the article showing a rather embarrassing and intimate moment between Ranma and their big sister. The twins also noticed mention of their kidnapping and frowned before looking up at the green goddess. They did not look happy, but the confusion showed clearly in their eyes.

"Now before you get too angry with me for this, I would like you two to understand I only wanted to see true sisterly love. I never meant anything bad by it. However, I will say that I was disappointed by your sister's decision," Vert explained solemnly. Normally Ram would have had an outburst or something at this moment, but the fact of the matter was, both of the twins were confused. What did their big sister liking someone have to do with them? After giving them a moment to process what had already been said, Vert continued," Your sister chose the love of another. She has abandoned you two…"

* * *

Later that night at about midnight, Blanc and Mina sat across from each other at the table they eaten at before. They had no idea what to do. As it had turned out, that last part of Ranma's life had been pure madness. The worse part was, they did not know what to do. The fact of the matter was that Ranma's life had no real sense of normality to it. It may very well been the very thing that protected her throughout its entirety in fact. The worse part was that they got the distinct feeling that the blame could not be put on any one group of people. Even Ranma and the most well intentioned people in her life had been at fault if they had to venture a guess. Regardless of where the blame for it all belonged, the damage had been done. The problem was that dealing with it may be next to impossible. If all they heard had been true, Ranma should not even be sane at this point. In fact, her sanity seemed to be a glaring flaw in the story she told. However, they had no way of confirming and had to assume it was true. This was especially true since Mina had been asking for many details and explanations. Ranma never once seemed to be making anything up. Then came the issue. Nekoken seemed to be the only constant between now and her story. She had never suggested anything else that could be a sign of a trauma. It wasn't that they couldn't identify the cause for any number of issues including the one for the black out. It was the fact that, besides the Nekoken and the previous episode, there was never a clear sign of symptoms. Something was not quite adding up.

As they discussed this matter, Mina thought about something she did not wish to share just yet. As it stood, there was a possibility that could account for what was happening. The problem was that she could not take the risk of suggesting the possible issue at hand. So far she had only a theory backed by inconclusive evidence. If she acted upon it and was wrong, the repercussions would be horrifying. As such, she had to bide her time and wait for more something more concrete. She hoped that this evidence showed itself before it hurt Ranma much more

They eventually gave up and went sleep. While they didn't trust Neptune as far as they- er Mina could throw her, they believed Gust and Noire along with their own guards could hold out well enough for them to wake and join the fight in time. It was best to be well rested after all.

* * *

The next morning, Falcom finally arrived at Lowee. She had been originally planning to get here at a more leasurely pace as it had been a while since she was able to enjoy the countryside. However, that had changed as soon as she heard the news of what was going on with the goddesses. She, just like anyone who knew Neptune and had a clear head, knew that the love article was very unlikely. So here she was at the southern gate. She was already seeing proof of the conflict that had occurred here a couple days ago. The landscape had clearly been unceremoniously remodeled by the battle for the twins. It was a reminder of what the goddesses themselves were capable of. Many people had forgotten the ferocity of the old Console Wars in this day and era. While much of the details of that hostile time had faded, there were several things that were known. The most important of these being the creation of the oracle system as part of the treaty, it established a new universal law that all CPU goddesses shall have an oracle to provide insight, help rule their goddess's land, and, most importantly, to maintain a peaceful relation between the other lands. Another interesting fact about oracles was the fact that in order to prevent a goddess from selecting a figure head, the first oracle of a goddess was chosen by their sharacite core and was then passed down by the oracle. One of the other things that was written about in the history books was the fact that you can still see the scars of that era in the landscape of Gamindustri itself. If what Falcom recalled of that unfortunate bit of history was true, then she may very well be in over her head, but she didn't care. Her friends were in trouble and she was going to be there to offer a hand.

* * *

Nisa now stood upon a hilltop looking eastward to the city of Lowee. Stood next to her was her ally of justice. It had been a long and arduous journey since their first meeting, but now it had all been worth it. Their struggles against one another and survival in the far reaches of Gamindustri had tempered them into a brilliant blade of justice to be brought down upon all those who dare threaten the peace of her beloved world. It was truly awe inspiring how the call of justice once sounded it one's heart could make them forgo the sins of their past to stand united against a great evil. Truly it was wondrous to see her one time ally of justice stand her ground before her and declare with no uncertainty in her heart to her wish to protect that which she cherishes at all cost and to reveal a threat to which they must face together! It was truly amazing. Now here they stand atop this hill looking upon the land where surely one of the greatest battles to decide the fate of their world was likely to come. It saddened her to find out that some form of madness had gripped the goddesses, but fear not for she and her red ally she come to save the day! Now if only she could get her to stop calling her justice wifey. She was flattered by the notion, really, but she had a name and it was Nisa! The hero of justice! Also, it was way too soon to be talking about marriage.

* * *

Within the streets of Lowee stood a group of five, fire burning in their hearts at the injustice that had befallen two of their members. Their leader the most fiery of all. She could not believe that her trusts and hopes could be dashed so thoroughly. For the past few days she had been disconnected from reality in her pursuit of justice. It had taken the revelation of the crime she had only uncovered the previous night to free her of her own madness. She realized she had crossed the line and gone against the truest form of justice in this world. She had repented and confided in her sisters that night and now stood with them not as the false big sister. No, they had forged a new sisterhood to seek out the truth and to bring their combined wrath upon those that had betrayed their great justice. They would have left that night in fact if not for the need for two of their numbers to come to terms with their actions under her control. The blush they both shared was so cute. In time however, they came around and agreed to this final battle. They would fight together to bring justice to the lands of Lowee. Not just any justice, but the justice of SISTERLY LOVE!

* * *

In the shadows of an alleyway stood two hooded figures. They had met each other the previous day. They both had grievances to be settled with a certain individual. As such, they had come to an agreement, and now, here they were in the city where their target resides. They will not be denied their justice. Vengeance was to be theirs. The bitch will pay!

* * *

It was morning at the Basilicom in Lowee. Everyone was having breakfast in Ranma's room. Ranma did not seem to be happy about having been cooped up. She understood that they were worried about her well being, but she needed to train or else she would lose her edge and be that much easier of a target for anyone who came to attack. It was bad enough that she was not able to control her power anymore, but if she even lost her skills too, it would be a blow to her pride. She could not allow herself to be anything but the best. With that in mind, she spoke up after finishing a decent, for her, breakfast," Yo, I need to get out and do some training!"

As she declared this and got out of the bed, Mina rose to stop her from leaving," That would be ill advised right now. Have you forgotten that you are in danger?"

Ranma sighed at this," It wouldn't be the first time, and after last time I think you'd realize that," Ranma answered. Mina blushed in embarrassment at the reminder and the others looked on in confusion except for Blanc who was reading a book.

"Ooooh! Nice going on the plus one harem member!" Neptune blurted out only for the room to drop several degrees and the purplette to receive a from all present in the room.

"Not even gonna bother," Ranma stated flatly as she watched the purple goddess shrink from said glares," Anyways, it's because I'm in danger that I need to train. Right now I only have my skills as a martial artist. If I lose even that, I might as well be a sitting duck."

"But-" Mina began to retort.

"Ranma has the right of it Mina," Blanc cut her off as she closed her book," We have a perimeter set up around the Basilicom. No one is sneaking in this time and it would be better for our budget if the battle happens in the courtyard instead of somewhere like this room."

Mina relented to this fact. Truth was that with things as they were, it would only make things worse for Lady White Heart if the Basilicom were to be destroyed as well. Her shares were already suffering as it was, but if that happened, the level of unrest would only be that much worse and possibly bring Blanc's share levels to an all time low. As such, the group chose to set up a vigil in the still destroyed courtyard from Ranma's accident. While repairs should have been done by now, the job had been called off halfway through to handle other issues. As such, Ranma went about warming up and going through her katas as the others set up chairs and such to watch.

It was to this seen that a guard came running to the group to report the sighting of the goddesses at the gates. Rom and Ram were to the north demanding to see their sister. Nepgear was to the west with a similar demand. Uni was to the East asking the same. Vert was waiting at the southern gate. At this news, Mina left to the north, Neptune to the west, and Noire to the East. Blanc and Gust followed Ranma to the south. Blanc trusted Mina to be able to handle the twins and could not blame the others for rushing to their sisters. It was this group that met with Vert at the southern gate. Vert was not amused.

"What is the meaning of this," Blanc demanded as she drew her hammer.

"I should be asking you the same," Vert sneered back," Why are you here? Your sisters need you," she finished with a cold glint in her eyes.

"Mina can handle them. I am not letting you get your hands on Ranma!" Blanc growled out. Vert was further displeased by this as she arched her brows.

"Is that how it is? You really care so little for them that you would delegate someone else to see them in your stead? What kind of sister are you?" Vert questioned as she stared the white goddess down. She had yet to even draw her weapon.

"The hell are you talking about!" Blanc demanded. She was starting to get pissed.

"Simple, what did the other two goddesses do when they heard about their sisters? Now think on what they did versus what you have," Vert answered. Blanc was perplexed. Vert seemed furious for some reason," If you're wondering what's going on you retched girl, I am not here for to take Ranma by force. I've recovered my senses. I'm here to find out the truth of the matter. The candidates, including your sisters, are here of their free will. Now excuse me as I have business with the home wrecker."

Blanc was at a lost for words at the exchange. That was when Ranma stepped out in front of Blanc and whispered for her to go while doing so. Blanc nodded and made her way northward as Ranma faced Vert with Gust at her back," So ya wanted to talk? What's up with this home wrecker crap?"

At this, Vert brought her weapon out and looked Ranma fiercely in the eyes as she answered," You stole something dear from those twins. You took their place in their big sister's heart! I am here to know why and punish you."

Ranma snorted at the answer much to Vert's anger," This old crap again. Look, I didn't do that. We're just friends and it's a misunderstanding."

"Really?" Vert asked in a curious tone.

"Yup, I take it this is about that article? It was total crap," the redhead answered once more. Vert relaxed her stance and thought for a moment.

"That does sound like the usual way of things around here," Vert said at last. It was then that Ranma stared in complete shock. Someone had actually listened to reason. That. Never. Happens!

"Th-that worked?" She said aloud before her brain caught up with what she had just said. It was then that Vert resumed her stance with an angry look on her face.

"How dare you try to deceive me!" She cried before going HDD and charging Ranma. The martial artist had barely anytime to dodge the thrust of the spear. It grazed her side as it past her and stabbed through a startled Gust's hat. Gust fell back in shock. As she tried to recover, Ranma grabbed on to the spear to use as leverage to plant a dropkick with both feet driven into Green Heart's Abdomen. That had at least been the plan. Unfortunately, Green Heart was far too fast for an unpowered Ranma to properly land a blow. In response to Ranma's attempt at a counter, Vert side stepped into her spear as she swung her foe away, Ranma made a rough landing and tumbled a small distance before rolling back onto her feet only to be met be another charge. It was only be reflex and skill that Ranma was even managing to avoid these thrusts. As it was, the spearhead grazed her shoulder as she crouched and lunged forward to land straight punch to the goddess's solar plexus. This attempt was foiled once more as Vert let one hand leave her spear as she stepped to Ranma's other side to grasp the spear once more. Ranma found her neck caught be the shaft and cried out in pain as Vert kneed her backside in the process. As Vert swung her spear to the side, Ranma fell to her knees.

"Gust's Drawing Song!" Gust declared as she began to sing and dance. Vert actually stood their and watched with interest at the cute display while wondering what the point of the crude drawing. Ranma, however, knew full well and had crawled away while the goddess was distracted. Then suddenly a storm of crudely drawn monsters started to rain down upon Vert and explode. When the dust settled, Lady Green Heart was not amused. To make this very clear, she charged the bunny themed girl. Ranma was powerless to stop what she feared to come. A clang filled the air as a sword met the goddess's spear and a new figure stood between the goddess and Gust.

"Wow that was close! Sorry I'm late," Falcom apologized.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: boring stuff is boring. Move on!

AN: Ok, sorry for the delay on this one. As stated on my profile when I finally got around to updating it, I was sick for most of last week. It has become something of a policy of mine not to write under those conditions as that is when I seem to do the dumbest things. Note that you guys have only seen the tip of the iceberg on this site when it comes to me being an idiot... Now moving along. Time for so much fun to be had... I hope!

EDIT: Have I ever mentioned I am an idiot? I have? goood... Then let's move to the critical mistake of this chapter. MSX was an old concept from when I was coming up with this story a while back... That was NOT what I had settled on and what was supposed to be here. As such, I went and fixed it... Thanks with putting up with my idiocy and let's look forward to less mistakes of this nature in the future! On a side note:Never leave your old notes mixed up with your confirmed material... Bad things happen... So Sorry!

* * *

Nepear awaited her sister's arrival with worry written clearly on her face. She did not know what to expect in this situation. Would her sister be mad with her over what happened with Vert? Would she listen to her request to stay out of Blanc's meeting? Her face was growing paler by the minute as she waited. No, bad Nepgear! She thought with a shake. She'll probably be so happy to see me that we'll be half way back to Planeptune before she remembers anything. She continued to bolster herself in this manner until she saw Neptune running to her.

"Sister!" She called out happily. Neptune then stopped and looked at her speculatively.

"Nep Jr.?" She asked tentatively.

"It's me sis! I'm so happy to see you!" Nepgear called out as she ran to her sister with tears beading her eyes. She almost didn't manage to dodge Neptune's sudden katana strike," wha-!?"

"Hmph, really Vert. After what she pulled with Uni she thought she could pull another fast one on lil ol' me. Nothing ever ends so easily around here! There's always a big boss battle before this gets resolved. Sorry Jr. but thems the breaks. Hopefully you'll forgive me after I finished beating the brainwashing out of ya!"

At this, Neptune went HDD and flew straight for Nepgear. As Neptune's blade neared her sister, another flash of light filled the air as a now HDD Nepgear parried the blow with her plasma gunblade. Worry lined the Purple Sister's face as she leapt back with the force of her sister's blow.

* * *

Noire came flying to the east gate in HDD. There she found her sister standing with an impatient look upon her face with her hands planted firmly on her waist. Noire was a bit confused at this as she landed before her sister and left HDD. She then began to approach her," Uni!"

Uni did not seem to be happy as she glared at her older sister. _Of course not, she is still under Vert_ _'_ _s control!_ She thought to herself as she came to a stop and brought her weapon out once more to be ready for hostilities to break out at a moment's notice. Uni's expression lightened up a bit as she began to talk," Hey sis, been pretty hectic lately…"

Noire was relieved to hear this as she replied," Yes it has, I was so worried when I found out you had been taken by Vert."

"Well, things did seem pretty bad for a time…" Uni seemed to be fighting feverishly to contain a blush," B-but th-that's now behind us," She finished as she began to regain her composure before taking on a much more serious and intense look," However, I want to know why you ignored Nepgear's plight."

"Uni, you know why," Noire answered with a sigh," We were backed up on our work load and had a lot of work to be done. Why should other nations' problems be our concern when we have problems of our own to fix at home."

"Other nations' problems!? Nepgear is my friend Sis!" Uni yelled out angrily," You should know how much that means to me!"

Noire frowned at this. She was not sure how to handle the situation. She knew she had allowed her work ethics to get the better of her in this case. She just had no idea how to settle this matter. Especially since she could not afford to look weak in public and she could see the gathering reporters and such from beyond the gate. It must be the same at the other gates. She realized that there was only one way to resolve this. It would be good for both her and Uni. With that thought she went HDD and smiled," I guess I didn't. So show me just how much!"

Everyone get's a display of Lastation's might and Uni gets to work out her frustrations so they can finish this little conversation in private elsewhere. Uni was much obliged as she went HDD, brought her gun forth, and took to the air.

* * *

Blanc did not know what to expect when she got to the north gate. This entire situation had been madness in the making and she was going to make Vert pay dearly for all of this later. What she found at the north gate was what she should have expected. Rom and Ram were being embraced by Mina and crying into her shoulders. Blanc should have known that Mina of all people would know how to defuse this disaster in the making. As such, she left HDD and made her way to the group. As she did, the twins looked up and saw her coming. They stared at her with hope in their eyes as she approached. Blanc smiled warmly at this. As she continued toward them, Mina noticed Blanc's arrival and stood up to step out of the way of the twins. At this, the twins came rushing forth with Ram in the lead and went to tackle her into a group hug. Most would have expected her to be knocked down by their antic, but they would have been sorely mistaken as she simply caught them and returned their hug. She was blushing a little at this act as she realized this intimate moment was being caught on camera as she noticed the news crews and such. She considered going over there and giving them a pounding for disturbing the moment, but decided to let it go for now as the twins needed her more. She was quite glad that this matter didn't need some idiotically contrived boss fight to settle. That was until she realized she had been taken advantage of while lost in thought and noticed the markers in each of the twins' hands. They were smiling impishly. With that, the hammer was out and the chase was on.

" Get back here you little shits!" screamed an enraged Blanc with various doodles across her face. So focused on the matter at hand that she forgot about the issue at the southern gate. Mina could only sigh in exasperation as the scene unfolded.

* * *

Ranma was relieved with the arrival of another one of her friends. She had been curious when they were going to meet once more. In any case, now was not the time to be distracted. As such, Ranma pushed herself back up and took a stance. Vert jumped away from Falcom and took to the air to glare down at her new foe before ordering," Stay out of this, dear. This is a matter between me and Ranma."

"I think not. Ranma's my friend and I can't stand by and not fight when I see a friend in need!" Falcom called back as she hefted her blade into a defensive stance. She had no illusions that she could offer better than to defend against a full on goddess.

"Very well, I am sorry to hear- What do you think you're doing?" Vert suddenly noticed that Gust had snuck up to Ranma and had handed her some healing items she had in stock. Gust was not too happy with how badly weakened she was in this scenario. She couldn't even offer her normal amount of support because most of her skills were based in alchemy and she no longer had the equipment on hand to perform her various combat skills based around them. The best she could do was magic and supplying items. When she got caught taking advantage of the break in hostilities, she turned to Vert timidly.

"Gust just helping!" She answered to which she received a glare that made her take cover behind Ranma. Now that the battle chat was over, combat resumed. Vert dove once more at Ranma. She desperately tried to dodge Vert once again while dragging a startled Gust along with her. As Vert tried to pursue them, Falcom came to the fore again to try and match Vert's spear with her sword. This time the result had been different as Falcom lacked the element of surprise. When the weapons met, Vert quickly spun about the blade as a fulcrum to bring the haft of her spear unto the swordswoman's unguarded face. Falcom fell back unconscious from the unexpected blow as Vert twisted about for a follow up swing at her still fleeing quarry. Her blade slashed through the back of Ranma's shirt. In response, Ranma shoved Gust away to twist about and try to engage in the hopeless battle. She needed her power to fight the goddess, and she knew Vert wasn't going to hold back anymore. The way in which she ruthlessly took out Falcom proved as much. She needed to use her power. Consequences be damned!

In that moment she called forth her share energy. It was still unstable but gave her enough of a boost to bring her back up to her old level. She flowed around another spear thrust in her own charge to close the distance. Vert unleashed a gale of wind to unbalance Ranma with a now free hand as she turned to ready for her next strike. The gale had caught Ranma unawares, but it was nothing new to her. Tricks like this had become the norm for her and she was barely slowed in her charge as she ducked below a slash to engage Vert in hand to hand. However even as she finally came into range, she could feel her power destabilizing. As such she willed it all into her hand to deliver a point blank blast of energy. Another massive explosion erupted from her hand and caught Vert completely by surprise. Both combatants were sent flying away from ground zero of the share explosion. Vert had regained her control mid air and landed under her own power while clutching at her stomach. Ranma had not been so lucky and came crashing down to the ground in a crumpled heap and rolling a short distance. She was still conscious, but it was clear that the blast had taken quite a bit of her strength and she now had trouble trying to pull herself together. Gust came rushing to Ranma's aid as a now recovered Falcom unsteadily took a guard position over Ranma. Vert hovered in the air for a moment as she watched over them. Disdain showing on her face as she spoke once more," What is the meaning of this? You were much stronger when you killed Arfoire."

Ranma couldn't answer at the time as she was too weak. Gust was still administering her medicine as Falcom held her ground in front of them.

"It's justice of course! Behold the ends to which a goddess falls for such acts of treachery my lady!" Called out the familiar voice of Chika as she walked through the South gate unopposed and taking out any of Lowee's guards that got in her way.

"Yup, that bitch is gonna get what's coming to her," Added a familiar underling wielding a lead pipe," By the way, real slick lyin' to me and sending me on a wild goose hunt shithead."

"Please leave Ranma alone! Ranma is Gust's friend!" The brown haired girl pleaded as Ranma began to stand once more with a grim expression. Falcom firmed her grip with a mirroring resolve.

"Halt for we stand for love and justice!" Came another cry as yet another group joined the fray from the west.

* * *

Back at the west gate a moment ago, Nepgear had landed after parrying her sisters strike. This time they charged each other without uttering another word. She knew that her sister couldn't be talked out of something like this when she set her mind to it. Their blades met once more. They both were prepared for this and continued to circle one another with their weapons locked each trying to create the opening that would spell victory. As they circled, share energy began to build up in their weapons. This battle would be decided by whoever could land the first decisive strike. Nepgear firmed her grip as she prepared to make her move.

"Stop this! Wifeys shouldn't fight among sisters!" yelled out a familiar voice. _Is that that girl from-_ Nepgear's thoughts were literally cut short as all faded to black.

* * *

When Ranma heard this she turned to stare at the newcomers. She had never seen these two before. One was a slender built girl with blue hair and the other was a girl with a decidedly Chinese theme and hair that matched her own say for the bit of white. The second one brought upon a familiar sense of being doomed. All Ranma knew was that apparently she was with the justice nut, but there was something disturbing about how her eyes were fixed upon her. A chill ran down her spine as the girl approached her.

"What is the meaning this? Who are you interlopers!? And you, stop right there!" Vert demanded angrily from the air as she watched events unfold below. When the new red head did not head her warning, she dove at the girl. Chika and her underling took this as a sign to begin once more and began to make their moves only to stop at what came next. The blue haired girl had actually managed to engage the green goddess with a dropkick that she used to springboard away while firing a strange penguin shaped gun and landing a bit away. The shots had missed Vert who now floated in the air where she had been stopped mid charge. She did not seem happy. All the while, the other newcomer kept walking towards Ranma with an intense gaze. Ranma knew that whatever this girl had on her mind could not be good and prepared for what was to come by taking a stance as Falcom shifted to rear guard in case the oracle and underling tried to engage again. The approaching girl came to a stop a meter away from Ranma before the most unbelievable thing since Ranma was turned into a goddess occurred.

"I am truly humbled to finally be in your presence wifey of wifeys, my goddess!" the girl declared as she immediately prostrated herself before Ranma to the shock of all present before rummaging through her clothes to present something that actually made Vert gasp. Ranma was not sure what she was looking at. It looked like a share core like the ones she'd seen in the Basilicom of Planeptune when they we still trying to figure out who she was a candidate to. But unlike the purple crystal from back then, this gem was smaller and shine with an intense and fiery red led that seemed to dance about. In its presence, Ranma could feel her powers stabilizing and returning. With it she learned something knew that was only confirmed by the girl before her," My name is RED and I'll be serving you from this day forward as your oracle wifey Red Heart!"

Silence rang clear throughout the courtyard as everyone absorbed what they had heard. Ranma was not a candidate. Ranma was a full blown CPU. As if to confirm this, light surrounded Ranma as she took on a form she had been unable to since the accident that one morning. She now floated in the air before her oracle in full HDD. She nodded her thanks, but she still could not shake off the chill that somehow she had been screwed far worse than she had been saved. Something about this girl was nagging at her. She was just so utterly confused and shocked that she had no idea what it could be. Finally, as she shook these thoughts off, she looked to Vert once more and they engaged each other once more. This time the battle was far more equal. They charged forth once more and used excessive amounts of speed. The difference in this clash and all those before was that Ranma now had the speed to match and surpass her opponent. This was proven as she flowed around Vert and her spear with ease to twist around and deliver a devastating kick that connected with the back of Vert's neck and sent her flying into the ground with a crash. There was a look of utter surprise on her face as she came crashing down.

Below, Chika and Linda made no move to join the fray as were outnumbered two to one. In fact, Linda had been slowly backing off one small step at a time into she could break out into a full retreat when the green goddess made a crater in the courtyard.

"Screw this, I'm out of here!" could barely be made out as she disappeared in the crowd at the gate. Chika was not happy however.

"My lady!" She cried out as she tried to come to Green Heart's aid. However she was intercepted by RED," Out of my way you tramp!"

"This is a battle between them. If you want to fight, I'll be happy to take you on! I am RED, the seeker of true love and the Oracle of wifey Red Heart!" RED declared as she drew her twin swords. Chika gritted her teeth as she brought her own spear out.

"Very well then, goddess against goddess and oracle against oracle. I am Chika! The oracle of Leanbox!" Chika screamed back as she lunged at RED. In turn, RED crossed her swords as she lunged. The spear had been caught between the twin blades and tossed to the side as RED turned away to deliver a savage kick into Chika's gut. While Chika is good enough to take missions from the guild, she has spent most of her time in the Basilicom doing her duties. RED, on the other hand, had been traveling the lands of Gamindustri for a long time and had far more experience. This side battle was one of no contest. RED's victory was then punctuated by another crashing goddess. This time it was Ranma.

Ranma had waited for Vert to recover and come at her again. When they reengaged, it did not end in some charge but instead became a close range exchange of various high speed attacks. In the midst of it, that nagging sensation came back at the back of her mind. It was something she overheard from the exchange below. Then it finally clicked.

"The hell is this wifey crap! I'm a-" Ranma yelled out and was subsequently cut off as she got slammed down to the ground by the back end of Vert's spear in her distraction. Vert returned Ranma's gesture in waiting for Ranma to recover as she landed a little distance away. Ranma stood once more and they glared at each other. It was a stand off as the each gathered their share energy for a final exchange. The tension in the air was palpable as they slowly prepared.

That was when the unexpected happened as a laughing and giggling Ram and Rom burst out on the seen running away from something. What that something was, Vert only had enough time to get a glance of the giant hammer before it drove her into the ground like a road spike.

"When I get my hands on you!" Was the scream of rage that sounded across the battle field as an absolutely pissed off Blanc gave chase. Meanwhile, a now normal Neptune came up to them at a sluggish pace while dragging an unconscious Nepgear.

"You know, you guys coulda given me a hand here- Oh, am I too late for the action?" Neptune asked to which Ranma face faulted as she returned to normal herself.

* * *

Sometime after the goddesses of Lowee finally made up, everyone found themselves gathered within the Basilicom to discuss the recent events and to demand reparations from Leanbox…

"You want us to what!?" Chika demanded angrily when she heard the bill.

"Your goddess owes every nation a formal apology for her insane stunt," Blanc stated calmly in a cold voice as she fingered the grip of her hammer by her side. Chika visibly began to sweat. Ah, the joys of good ol' hammer diplomacy," Your nation will also be paying Lowee for ALL of the damages incurred in full along with the hospital bills of my soldiers. As well providing Ranma with any funding necessary in the near feature, say over the next two months? This is due to your UNPROVOKED assault on said CPU. You are lucky that no one else here will be making the same demand. This is the only leniency I will give. Am I clear?"

To the this, Chika mechanically nodded and slumped back into her seat. Leanbox was going to have a riot over this and she was not looking forward to it. Vert also looked grim faced at this but was willing to accept these terms. Vert absolutely hated the situation, but she had to admit to it all being her fault. She was especially feeling bad when she and Chika had the whole mess explained to them while Blanc was cooling down. Then something occurred to her," Where are the goddesses from Lastation?"

To this everyone looked about and realized they weren't present. Neptune shrugged and spoke," No idea, maybe they went home already? Noire is a loner like that."

* * *

Outside at the East gate. The two black sisters were still engaging in an aerial battle as Uni tried to keep the distance while firing back at her sister who was in hot pursuit. Uni finally managed to line up the perfect headshot with which to claim victory and pulled the trigger. It was at that moment her big sister sneezed and the bullet whizzed past her head. It would be a while yet before their battle came to an end.

* * *

Everyone else just nodded and got back to business. As such, Mina took over," Now that we have the reparations settled-"

"Pudding!" Neptune declared intensely.

"What?" Mina began as the CPUs present face palmed.

"I'll be sure to send you a large amount as my apology…" Vert agreed to which Neptune took on a victory pose with a goofy smile.

"Ahem, now that that's over, we can get to the newest development," Mina tried once more," It would seem that we may have gravely miscalculated Ranma's situation."

Nepgear, who had only recovered a little bit ago interrupted," Uh, what happened precisely?"

The twins nodded their agreement with their friend as they had been to busy having fun earlier to have noticed anything. Mina sighed as she went on to explain," It would seem Ranma is a CPU and not a Candidate as we had previously thought."

"Woah! Really!? Wow, that great martial arts harem master is a full blown CPU? She gone win the Console Wars by making a harem or something?" Neptune blurted out at this revelation. Ranma suddenly had a cold feeling in the pit of her soul at the glimmer that filled her Oracle's eyes at this statement. Now she understood fully how screwed she was. Maybe she should hurry and harass Histy to get the lead out on getting her back to normal and fast.

"Wait!" Nepgear cut in once more," I thought the Console Wars were brought to an end a long time ago."

Blanc snorted at this. She really could not believe how much of a bone head Neptune was to have put that idea in Nepgear's head," The war never ended. The fact we still compete for shares is proof of that. All that changed were rules the rule of engagement. So long as there are multiple CPUs, the war will remain."

"But I thought the only reason we continue to compete was to preserve ourselves and protect our nations," Nepgear went on.

"That's just it. It's always been about that. No goddess can take an action without it affecting the others because of shares. For this reason, there shall always be the Console Wars in Gamindustri for one reason or another," Vert answered this time. Nepgear nodded her head in understand and she seemed to get a little depressed," Now don't fret dear, we're all friends here. That's why the rules are those of friendly competition instead of battle."

At this, the candidates nodded enthusiastically and smiled. Ranma nodded in thought over this small revelation in the history of this world. She had not had time or the wish to found out about its history, but she had always suspected something like this had been going on with the CPUs. Now it had been confirmed. She was happy to find out that it was possible for enemies to become friends like this. She then wondered how long it would take for it to happen back at home…

"Now, getting back on track once more," Mina began for a third time," Ranma has been found to be a CPU and her Oracle has her share core with her. Now what needs be found is where Ranma's nation belongs-"

"Wait, what's this crap about a nation!? I never signed up for this! All I want is to get back to normal and head home!" Ranma interrupted Mina this time. Mina began to massage her temples as RED looked at Ranma with a bit of disappointment clearly written on her face.

"Ranma, it doesn't matter anymore. Once you're a CPU, you will draw followers to you naturally. In fact, you'll need them if you want to survive. Otherwise you'll fade away without faith to support you. And just as you need their faith to survive, they will need a place to live and worship freely within. This is an unavoidable duty, Ranma," Mina explained. The goddess of red was not pleased with this. She didn't want to fade away, but she also was not ready to be running a nation. Hell, she hadn't even finished High School and the were telling her she had to run an entire nation with the help of a stranger who was giving her the chills every now and again. Ranma finally slumped back in defeat as she nodded in surrender. Living was pretty important after all. Mina nodded and continued," RED, was it? You wouldn't happen to know where you found your goddess's share core?"

"Hmm, I think I found Wifey's" Ranma glared daggers at the girl who completely ignored this and went on," crystal in a forest west of here. If you get a map I think I can show it to you," RED answered. Blanc got a curious look on her face. Neptune seemed to scrunch her face up as if trying to remember something. Vert took note of the try and wondered to herself what this could possibly be about.

"It couldn't be," Blanc muttered.

"Hmm, I forget… Was there something there?" Neptune asked out loud to herself as she struggled to remember. In the meantime, Mina brought out a map and RED, with Nisa's help, began retracing the parts of their journey they knew of and finally came to an agreement to a general area.

"It was somewhere in there. There were a bunch of ruins with no monsters in them I found it inside this big building at the center," RED said as she finally got a general area to search in," Now we just got to go looking through this forest and we'll find our new nation!"

"Wait, could you describe what the buildings looked like from these ruins," Blanc asked with trepidation. RED thought about it for a moment, but it was Nisa who intervened.

"If I recall, most of the buildings were barely intact. I couldn't make much out as it was mostly broken and rotted away. However, I remember the inside of the central build. It was large, but the outside was trashed and only remained because the supports had held strong. The inside, however, it was different… A lot of it reminded of those samurai and martial arts shows and games," Nisa described what she could remember from back then. As she went on, Neptune's face lit up in recognition of the place that was described.

Blanc could not believe what she was hearing. She never thought that that place would ever come back. She could still remember what had happened back then during the wars. The goddess who ambitiously sought to unify the nations under one standard. Her people whose martial and magical skills still inspire people to this day. The nation from which a number of well known and famous series were born. Now, she had a successor.

"Wowza! She really did keep that promise of her nation rising from the past and all that!" Neptune exclaimed in shock. Everyone present turned to look at the two most ancient goddesses in the room. Blanc looked about the room and sighed.

"There will be no need to search. I and Neptune already know of Ranma's nation…" Blanc spoke at last.

"If so, what's with all the melancholy?" Vert asked in confusion. Blanc sighed at her ignorance. Of course Vert wouldn't know. This was from a time before the founding of Leanbox. Though it was quite disturbing to know Vert was unaware of a nation that shared the same roots as some of her technology.

"Vert, if you'll recall, there were a number of nations that rose and fell during the Console Wars. Ranma's nation is one of them," Blanc answered.

"Yup, I can't believe I forgot about that place. Some really fun franchises came from that place!" Neptune chimed in.

"Well, stop holding us in suspense and get on with it!" Vert demanded.

"Ranma is the new goddess of Nippon nine-," Blanc began to declared.

"Or Eden for short!" Neptune interrupted quickly with a faked sagely expression.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I... AM... A FANFIC WRITER! Therefor I own none of these series...

AN: Hey guys, I know that this is a bit of a quick release, but let's just say I was singing along to a certain Japanese ad song as I wrote. In any case, please do not shoot me for some of the things I wrote about the past. It was mainly based off of how Sega had a tendency to save itself back then. Plus, I thought it was important to flesh out how the goof ball survived back then... Also, Yes, I am still chanting the song as I type... In any case, have fun!

* * *

"Eden? You mean THAT Eden from the archives?" Mina asked in shock to which she received nods from both Blanc and Neptune.

"Yeppers! The place that actually kicked our cans-" Neptune started.

"Yes, the place that Neptune pissed off with that ad campaign. Their goddess was so pissed she nearly pummeled us to death with her bare hands," Blanc cut in with a vicious glare. Everyone just stared in varying degrees of shock. Neptune had been known to do some stupid things these days to get on people's nerves, but the idea of her actively using advertising effectively was scary.

"Hey, I was really proud of that break through. How was I supposed to know they beat my nation to it?" Neptune tried to defend herself.

"Oh, you mean like the 'Lowee want purple' campaign or that time you found that unbeatable martial artist to bully people with?" Blanc asked with an eye twitch.

"Hey, don't bring him up," Neptune sniffs," He…was so brave when he… stopped that missile your nation fired at us!"

"We only did it to try and shut you up! That campaign was way too violent! I can still remember children crying at the sight of the brute," Blanc took another, albeit halfhearted, verbal jab at her long ago foe. Things were beginning to be derailed once more. Mina decided that it would be for the best if they left the room immediately. As such, she led everyone out and up a few floors to a better fortified room with sound proofing.

"Much better," Mina spoke at last," They are going to be at it for hours."

"The hell was that all about?" Ranma asked to which Mina sighed.

"Back during the old wars, CPUs used any means necessary to get share. Planeptune at the time used a lot of marketing and ad campaigns that were fairly ruthless. It was actually an effective method to gain shares back then and had gotten Neptune the shares she needed to win several battles back then. The worse of it was that Blanc and Neptune were major rivals back then as well," Mina explained. Everyone, including Nepgear, was in shock at the revelation. The purple blob whose throne is a couch in front of a TV used to be an effective leader.

"Ummm, what changed my sister so much?" Nepgear asked in morbid curiosity. While they may be sisters, Neptune wasn't one for talking about the old days.

"Hmmm, that was before I was even born. If I had to take my guess though, it was her campaign after the current peace was established. She thought her nation had made a major break through with the dream-nep, but when the product failed in the market, she seemed to become dispirited as it was right on the heels of the peace treaty," Mina answered thoughtfully.

"By the way, what's this about an unbeatable martial artist?" Ranma asked curiously.

"Ah yes, Sanshiro… That is from a very long time ago. I can't say what kind of person he was really like, but the records state that Blanc fired off a missile at Neptune's Basilicom with the intent to get her to cease her campaigning. Sanshiro actually leapt from the top of it, caught the missile and then rode it upwards until it exploded. It is believed he died back then. However, it is also said his death was not in vain as it was what brought about the peace talks," Mina explains.

* * *

Back with Neptune and Blanc, they were sitting down with some pudding.

"Ok, sorry to have brought that up…" Blanc admitted to the sniffling Neptune.

"I-it was my fault back then… If only I had warned him…" Neptune took a bite out of her pudding. The truth about what had happened at the time was not a happy one. There had already been an informal meeting for peace, but it was Neptune's idea to have one more publicity stunt to help drive in the need to end the hostilities back then. She and Blanc came to an agreement to use what amounted to an oversized firework to damage the Basilicom. Noire had been against the stunt from the outset, but Blanc had agreed that Neptune's people needed a wake up call. Their nations had been at war for too long and the propaganda Neptune had used during it had instilled too much aggression for any lasting peace. A final display to disillusion her people. That's what it was supposed to be. Then the legendary martial artist messed it all up. It was still a success in the end, but it was no less of a tragedy. One that Blanc shouldered. After the treaty finally succeeded, Neptune never really had the heart for campaigning again. In fact, she almost let herself vanish until the Candidates were born. Nep gear may never know it, but she saved her sister back then. Still, there was one mystery remaining. How did that dud manage to kill that man. Not even the fall should have succeeded…

* * *

Tekken arrived at her home high atop the mountains east of Planeptune. She had just gotten back from some more intensive training. She was looking forword to challenging Ranma to a proper match later on.

"I'm home master!" Tekken called out to which she heard a yell and a bunch of furious clicking noises. That was odd. She could not ever recall seeing her master train like this. She came around out back to find her master training on an oversized and out of date game console. He wore a white gi and looked as if he were only thirty at the most with the only sign of his aging being his pure white hair," Master, what is this?"

The master stopped his rapid fire punching of the controller to turn and look at his pupil. He stood up and they bowed to one another before he spoke," After hearing your stories of a new martial artist who could even fight a full goddess to a standstill, I have thought on it these past few days. I wish to challenge this new goddess who follows our ways, but only if you are defeated first."

Tekken was shocked. Her master was actually moved to begin his old training regiment for a chance to challenge Ranma… She looked forward to her challenge with great anticipation. Even if she loses, she would be rewarded!

* * *

"Now back to more important matters. We should have an old map with the location on of Eden on it. We'll be sending a survey team there with you, Ranma, while RED stays behind and works on establishing policy and basic laws and such with Mine AND Chika's assistance," Mina explained.

"A survey team?" Ranma asked in confusion.

"Yes, we'll be sending a large survey team to look over the remains of Eden for reconstruction," Mina explained. That's when Chika realized something and began to dread the answer.

"Uh, Ranma doesn't currently even have the funds for such a large scale-" Chika began to point out while trembling as Vert paled at the realization.

"All expenses for the next two months," Mina answered before the Oracle of Leanbox could finish. Chika just wanted to cry," By the way Ranma, seeing as RED is likely untrained in such matters, are there any people you'd like to help her?"

"Sure," Ranma replied with very little thought," I want Gust to help out. She can help with the money stuff," Ranma also hoped her friend would keep a close watch on RED to run damage control in her absence. Somehow though, she got the feeling it wouldn't be enough. The problem was that Gust was the only one present she knew could offer help with this kind of stuff. Gust looked a little worried at being asked to stay behind however.

"Don't worry Gust, I'll be going along with Ranma to watch her back," Falcom said to reassure the girl.

"I'll be going as well! No evil shall prevail with a hero of justice present!" declared Nisa with a certain shine in her eyes. Ranma groaned inwardly at the thought of having someone as nutty as a Kuno tagging along. She only hoped that the nuttiness was just the justice talk. She would hate for her to show other tendencies. In any case, the meeting went on for a bit as the group discussed a few key matters. Mainly having Ranma go over details on what kind of materials and resources would be involved in the reconstruction efforts as it turned out Ranma was familiar with the varying architecture of old Eden as it was a combination of two different cultures from Ranma's world. Ranma would be going over the details with the crew over the next week or so. They just needed to know what resources to begin allocating ahead of time. Also, it was decided that the architects working on the project in Lowee would be studying games and shows and trying to modernize it. Ranma would have the final say after returning from the initial survey. It was starting to get around dinner time and the candidates had long since fled. Most of what they needed for now was settled. There was just one last matter to be taken care of.

"While it will be sometime before your followers can come to live in your new nation, there are still a few matters to take into account," Mina explained," First is that there needs to be a basic policy guideline. Usually this is set by something of a motto. An example is that Lowee is the land of white serenity. We strive for peace and happiness of our people and try to present ourselves as such. Our family friendly policies are indicative of this."

"I know!" RED cried out. Ranma was dreading this. She just knew this was not going to end well," Eden, the land of red passion!"

The room was silent for a moment as the various members thought about this. Then Nisa broke it," I love it! Passion is truly what we all must hold dear in achieving our goals. Just like how I burn with a passion for justice!"

"Gust thinks it would work fairly well," Gust added. Chika and Vert simply smiled. Vert's was a bit perverted while Chika's contained a devious bent.

"That would definitely work well," Mina admitted while nodding her head sagely.

"No," Ranma said fiercely," Nu uh, not happenin'!"

"Aw, why not wifey Red Heart?" RED asked sadly.

"It's Ranma, and I am not nor ever will be someone's wife! As for why, I am not going to support a policy like that. I can see just how badly that is gonna bite me in the ass," Ranma answered angrily. RED was nearly in tears. When she noticed this, she backed up a little and was feeling a little ashamed, but she was not going to stand down on this.

"Well," Mine intervened," Do you have a suggestion?"

Ranma thought on it for a moment before smirking," The land of fiery red ambition! Got a really manly ring to it right?"

The room was silent for a moment with everyone staring at Ranma before Vert finally broke in," I say we put this one up to a vote. All in favor of Ranma's slogan?"

Ranma raised her hand immediately. No one else did.

"All in favor of passion!" RED called out happily to which everyone raised their hand. Ranma felt betrayed as even Gust and Falcom raised their hands.

"Sorry Ranma, but I got to go with RED on this one," Falcom replied to Ranma's baleful stare.

"Gust sorry, but this is better for business," Gust provided while not making eye contact.

"Fine, but I want it clear that it means something like fighting spirit and none of the mushy crap!" Ranma gave in at last.

* * *

Outside at the Eastern gate of the Lowee Basilicom. The goddesses of Lastation could be found collapsed on the ground beside one another drenched in sweat. Noire stared out at the evening sky as she wondered why no one had shown up yet to stop their fight. They couldn't have taken that long to do their fights after all. It was at that moment that she realized that they had been completely forgotten by the others and that the news crews had long since left. She wanted to scream in outrage. However, she was too exhausted and could only say one thing before passing out by her downed sister," Damn you Neptune…"

* * *

It was after dinner when the twins ambushed Ranma.

"Ranma! Let's hang out!" Ram declared as she tried to tackle the martial artist who simply caught her and set the young goddess on her shoulders with a smirk.

"Sure thing!" Ranma answered to which the twins giggled happily. A little ways off, Blanc watched the scene with some trepidation as the trio went off somewhere to play. Mina noticed and placed a reassuring hand on her goddess's shoulder.

"It should be fine. I've been meaning to bring it up, but I think Ranma won't be a mental wreck waiting to happen anymore… well unless a cat is involved," Mina spoke softly so that only Blanc would hear it.

"What? But her past and-" Blanc began to retort as she turned to her Oracle only to be cut off by a thoughtful smile.

"It shouldn't be a factor. I believe Ranma under normal circumstances would never do any of what we've seen. I had my suspicions, but I could not say until I had proof. Ranma's share core and nation are just that. Proof that she is a CPU," Mina began to explain.

"But what does that have to do with anything?" Blanc asked in confusion.

"Ranma was showing signs of fading. She was a CPU that was garnering no shares. When they hit rock bottom, they weaken in almost everyway. This includes mentally," Mina explained.

"Wait, she was fading!? You should have said something anyways!" Blanc demanded. She had never gone through the process herself so she would not know of the symptoms. Not only that, CPUs in general don't even want to know about that.

"Don't worry, we had plenty of time. The records state it takes several months for the process. If I had seen no improvement within a week, I would have broached the subject," Mina answered.

* * *

On the way to one of the Basilicom's game rooms, as it was getting too dark outside to play there, Ranma and the twins ran into Nepgear. They all stopped as Ranma and Nepgear stared at one another. Nepgear had a sad expression with a little bit of fear. Ranma had a stern look to hers as she looked at her. After a moment, Ranma set Ram down and told them to go ahead. The Twins nodded reluctantly before rushing off. After the corridor was clear except for the two, Ranma finally broke the silence that had hung over it with a sigh before talking," Look, I don't care anymore," She began much to Nepgear's shock," Now don't get me wrong, I'm going back to being a guy as soon as I find a way then I'm heading home, but I'm not gonna hold a grudge."

Ranma had had some time to think things over. She knew that not everyone could be held to the same standards as she held for herself. Her father was proof of that. She did, however, had to also concede the fact that there may have been a reason for what happened back then that the girl wasn't saying and it was Ranma's fault. After her blow up with Histoire, it would be hard for anyone to get the courage to talk to her if they had a reason to be afraid. In the end, Ranma decided to let it all go. After talking about her past recently and hearing a bit of this world's history, she had realized a few things. With these thoughts settled in her mind, Ranma offered her hand to the candidate of Planeptune. Nepgear stared at it for a moment before finally smiling and accepting the handshake eagerly with both hands saying," Thank you!"

After that, Ranma had Nepgear lead the way to the game room.

* * *

The following morning, Ranma woke up and did some training until it was interrupted by the three Oracles.

"Ranma, it is getting close to time the time for the survey group to leave," Mina broke in as Ranma had begun meditating and trying to get a better grasp of her share energy. Ranma sighed in annoyance and nodded her head.

"Hey, listen up!" Chika called angrily.

"There's something we need to do now before that, wi-er… Ranma," RED said with a smile. Ranma finally got up and looked them over.

"What's that?" She asked as she stretched her limbs in discontent.

"We need you for an ad that RED devised last night," Mina answered.

"Yup, I got to say it's a pretty good idea for getting started," Chika added.

"Really…" Ranma said skeptically. She had little faith in the woman that was supposed to be her Oracle. Ever since she met her, she has had nothing but bad vibes and dealing with her tendency towards love. Ranma did not have a lot of confidence in her…

"Don't worry, there will be a lot of fighting spirit!" RED declared with a determined look in her eyes. Ranma did not like that look.

Ranma thought it over for a second before sighing," Fine, let's get this over with."

Upon agreeing to this, RED handed her what seemed to be a script. Ranma red over it and was pleasantly surprised. It was a decent script. She would do battle with an ancient dragon out in the field and all she had to do was say one line while doing some form of awesome attack. It would give Ranma a decent work out and give her a chance to let loose before making what was likely to be a boring journey through the forests with a large group. Maybe RED would be a good Oracle for her after all.

* * *

They found the ancient dragon and had several film crews ready to shoot the battle from various angles. Vert and Blanc were present to step in if things got out of hand even if it was unlikely. The twins also came to watch the shooting as it promised to be interesting. Falcom, Nisa, Gust, and the Oracles of the three nations were also present. Neptune and Nepgear, as well as Noire and Uni, had left for their nations already. It was actually quite awkward when the Lastation duo were found sleeping at the east gate.

"Ok, Ranma," RED said with a bit more confidence. Ranma had a little bit of a talk with her the previous night after the meeting to try and settle the wifey stuff. Ranma was pretty sure the only progress she had made was to get her to agree to call her by name. Ranma still had a dread feeling of antics to come," All you need to do is go in there, transform during the fight, and use an awesome finisher as you say your line!"

Ranma nodded and waited for the go ahead. Once she had the go ahead, Ranma dashed out at top speed to meet the ancient dragon in battle. The dragon took notice and gave a great roar as it swiped with its right arm at the martial artist. Ranma didn't even bother to dodge the attack. Instead she leapt straight at the outstretched claws to deliver a kick that forced the hand back as she flipped away. The roar came to an end in that moment as the dragon breathed deeply. Ranma knew what to expect next. The fact was that this fight was over kill. Ranma didn't even need to transform. Heck, she could have destroyed the dragon already, but that was not what she was here for. She was here to put on a show. As such, she landed in a low crouch to stare up intensely as she gathered her power. Finally, the dragon unleashed a torrential fire breath upon her. At that moment, she used the gathered energy to shield herself as she leapt into the dragon's fire. She began to go HDD as she left the flames from the other side. There she floated before the dragon unharmed. It was time for her finisher. Knowing this, she created two red orbs of share energy. She had not had the time to figure it out, but she did know that her old techniques were not only compatible but easier to pull off with the new power. As such, she was certain this next attack would work as it was only a variation and combination of a couple of her old attacks.

"Nothing shall stand against the flames of my passion!" She cried out her one line as she violently combined and launched the orbs at the dragon. When the unstable orb detonated on the dragon, it was engulfed in a massive sphere of spiraling energy that soon exploded into a column of red light the pierced the skies. Ranma had not been expecting that last bit, but had done an admirable job of not letting it show on her face. What she had just done was create two orbs containing an internal spiraling movement that was opposite to each other. She had then combined and launched them before they fully destabilized. The effect was supposed to be an on demand Hiryu Korin Dan with the limitation that it would only use her power and therefore be more costly to use. It worked, but she had not expected the explosion at the end. All in all, it made for a successful shooting.

"That… was so cool!" Ram declared as Rom nodded in agreement. RED was beaming happily at the scene as it had turned out better than she hoped. She couldn't wait for the finished product to be aired.

* * *

After they came back from the filming, Ranma got dragged into a quick photo shoot in both forms. Ranma didn't care for the experience very much, but she did have to admit it was better than her previous experience with Nabiki. Once that matter was taken care of, it was finally time for Ranma to leave with the expedition.

"Come back soon Ranma! Me and Rom want play again!" Ram called out.

"Yes, please… It was very fun," Rom added with a soft yet very warm smile. Blanc was also there and said nothing. She just smiled and nodded her head from beside her younger sisters. After the farewells, everyone set off to get back to doing their work. Once in progress, Ranma found that the journey wasn't going to be as boring as she thought as monsters still attacked them in spite of their large numbers. It was quite a pleasant surprise as they made their way. According to the map, it was going to be a couple of days. On their way out, they saw the beginnings of roadwork being done to connect the new nation to the others. Apparently Mina was trying to make as much use out of Leanbox's coffers as possible over the next two months. One thing bothered Ranma about the whole situation. What was going to happen when the day came for her to go back to being her old self and return home? She hadn't thought to ask anyone yet and figured it could wait for when she came back from the current trip. It was also at this time that Ranma came to the realization that she completely forgot to ask Histoire about the research.

* * *

Back in Planeptune, Histoire was irritably going over the paperwork that Neptune was supposed to be doing. She had been trying to manage and handle everything over the past few days as the whole incident happened. She ultimately couldn't fault Neptune for leaving to go chase after her sister. It was actually admirable. She couldn't even deny her having a little off time to spend with said sister after it all was over. The problem was that it still irked her that even after she finally managed to get her goddess back after three years she was still stuck doing all the work. As the tome continued to work diligently, she couldn't help but think she was forgetting something. Did she forget about authorizing the new road construction? No, she did that last night at she got word from Mina about the situation. It would not do to not have a road connecting Planeptune to Eden after all. Did she forget to sign off on the temporary housing policy for believers of the new faith that were gathering from the smaller villages in the countryside. No, she did that this morning. Oh no, did she actually pass that dreadful pudding tax law that Neptune kept pushing for- no, there it is going through the shredder right now. Hmmm, oh well. It's probably nothing important.

* * *

Ranma brushed the thought away for later. On another note, she was finding that the hero of Justice's presence wasn't as bad as she had thought. While traveling, Nisa and Ranma were actually starting to get along. They shared in the fact that they both employed martial arts. Not only that, but the fact that Nisa actually lacked the Kunos' delusions. True, she did talk about the whole hero thing, but she seemed to have a more understanding side. This was confirmed as she talked about how she and RED first met. Sure the chase had sounded like a Kuno thing to do, but RED had admitted to stalking a goddess. The redeeming part of the story was that she listened to RED and even teamed up when a greater threat was perceived. Tatewaki had teamed up with others before, but he never really put aside his differences and listened. Another clear difference was the fact that unlike Tatewaki, Nisa and RED remained friends after the fight was over. Ranma was starting to feel a little bit more at ease with this world with every passing day. Sure it was crazy, but it still had nothing on Nerima. After all, it's not like he's gonna be dealing with doppelgangers or some of the other crazy stuff. Plus, how many more crazed goddesses bent on world destruction could there be? Ranma then kept mentally listing other things that she didn't think likely to happen.

* * *

Rei was having another dreadful day it seems. She felt bad about having to go home sick again, but this time she had a really bad sneezing fit. With this thought in mind, she went to her boss to apologize. A half an hour later, her boss would throw her out saying something about needing to quit the pity party and go home already.

* * *

Back in Lowee, RED was slogging through paperwork of her own with the help of the two more experienced Oracles and Gust. Some might think she was bored as she did this. Normally, those people would have been correct. However, RED had a purpose and a plan. She had finally found what she sought for so long. She wanted to create her own harem. As such, she had journeyed across Gamindustri in search of love. She had even become something of a rumored myth. In all that time, she had never contemplated what she did now. It had never occurred to her that she might be lacking that special something that made the magic of harem building happen, but she realized it when she found a wifey that actually did have that. Now here she was as the first OFFICIAL wifey to her goddess. She had plans now. She wouldn't be the last wifey either, and the wifeys of her wifey were also her wifeys. With this thought focusing her, RED dove into learning her new trade and trying her best to follow her goddess's policy… Well, what she interpreted it as anyways…

As thoughts like these filled RED's head, Gust was trying to figure out how to best make money for the new nation. She had no clear clue yet as to what kind of infrastructure would be built. She wasn't sure what she would have to work with. Time was too limited in her opinion for the job at hand. At best, she could try and draw in tourism for some initial profits. People would be interested in stuff like that. The problem was that her job heavily depended on what came back in the survey reports and the policies that would be made here. As such, she was setting aside the economic stuff to help out with the Oracles.

Mina and Chika were having a bit of a difficult time themselves. They were utterly baffled by some of the choices being made by RED and her appointed assistant. Seriously, the woman had actually signed off on laws that legalized polygamy, but As if to offset it, made some interesting restrictions. It should have been expected, but what wasn't, was that Gust had actually agreed and helped flesh out the laws. They had no idea what was going on in the girl's head, but if Mina had to take a guess, it had to do with possible revenue options. Another thing was the laws regarding combat within the city. They actually were instating a nonlethal dueling system along with a similar set of restrictions. This time RED had explained that it was to fan the fighting spirits of her people. She was even discussing tournaments with Gust. While it was all turning out well, it was causing the other two a head ache because laws like these were completely out of the norm. It went against there own legal system and was bringing up the issues that would crop up with their foreign policy. They had to draft several policies regarding the handling of Eden's laws regarding their own citizens. However, it was only the first day and there would be many to follow.

As such, the group called for a break to have a meal and discuss some other things. It was during this time that RED decided to talk to Mina in private to learn more about Ranma. Mina gave a quick summary and the clip notes, but they would be going into it in more detail over time. It was RED's right to know as it pertained to her goddess. Mina would come to regret this later on, but at the time, she was woefully unaware of what these talks would give birth to.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the series used. This includes references and cameos!

AN: So yeah, look forward to fun times ahead. I tried to have some fun with this chapter, but it was mostly me going over the beginning of a new nation. As for the cameo and references in this chapter, I have no intention at this time to use these for anything plot related. That being said, I am currently on the fence about the possibility of cameos or even a character joining the cast of this story from the mountain. That being said, I hope you all enjoy this!

* * *

It had been a troubling past couple of days at Lowee. Mina had found that telling RED more about Ranma only seemed to make things more difficult. As it would turn out, Mina took this information to Gust and they made a lot more strange laws and actually had a few strange ideas for their business model. Everything from martial insurance laws to actually laying down the groundwork for a demolition company that was supposed to double as entertainment was now being added into the mix. Even their ideas for the guild seemed a little off. There had been a lot of moments in which Mina had reconsidered telling anymore details. The problem was that it was turning out results, even though these results caused her and Chika more trouble. One incident in the retelling of Ranma's life that bothered Mina was when she talked about Ranma's gender and the curse she used to have…

* * *

RED sat in shock at the explanation of Ranma originally being a man that was transformed into a girl through a curse. She sat still while muttering things that Mina couldn't quite make out. In the end RED suddenly jumped out of her seat to strike a victory pose.

"This is proof that my path is the righteous one," She loudly declared with a strange glint in her eyes.

* * *

Something about that look in her eyes terrified Mina. Fortunately, nothing bad has come from the arrangement. There was the strange fact that bathhouses were later brought up as well as discussion for the possibility of hot springs. Mina hoped there was no ulterior motive behind this, but at this point, she had no idea how to gauge the new Oracle. She was taking to the job well enough which proved that Ranma's share core had functioned properly in choosing her. Though she had found the one issue that might be a problem. There was always some form of quirk set down by the rules that made sure the Oracles were not truly subservient to the goddesses. In Mina's case, the oracle line carried the necessity of being a care giver which could put her foot down. The Lastation line were always highly efficient and business minded individuals who would never do anything with gaining something back in return. The Leanbox line tried to relieve Vert's _tendencies_ and had a tendency of their own to demand being spoiled in return. Planeptune was the most interesting in that it had chosen the immortal Histoire to watch over Neptune. As far as anyone could guess, she was picked in response to her loss and because the dolt needed a firm hand to get her to work. Now it seemed that Ranma's line will be rather troublesome as they will undermine all attempts of manliness with femininity. At least that's what Mina's current conclusion was after seeing the commercial that was released

* * *

There was a shot of a beautiful sunset accompanied with music based from the old records of Eden. Then the voice of an unknown woman began to narrate.

"Long ago a nation fell with the setting sun"

It suddenly cut away to show women wielding various weapons and some unarmed but still taking stances based on old footage.

"The heart of the old arts have passed on…" The voice came again as the screen panned over these women," But-" Music goes silent.

Suddenly it cut to Ranma getting ready to face an ancient dragon," This woman-"

Cuts to a new dawn," Will bring rise to the nation with her passion!"

A new and much more modern piece of pop music with some clear influence from the previous piece plays as it shows the rest of Ranma's battle.

"Welcome to Eden, the land of Red Passion! Set your hearts ablaze!" Then it cuts back to a large group of women striking a pose with their weapons.

This time it was these women that cried out," We shall fight for our love!"

Then it cuts out with a heart and the Venus symbol over it and fire blazing behind it.

* * *

Mina was certain Chika was nearly catatonic for the rest of the day when she got the bill for hiring all those idols and the famous voice actress. She was also certain Ranma was not going to be happy when she found out about the ad campaign. Seriously, Gamindustri was flooded with posters and pamphlets for Eden showing Ranma posing while saying stuff about passion and uniting hearts with it. Though Mina did have to wonder how RED got Ranma to do some of the poses. No extra skin was shown, but Ranma had done several poses in the shoot that morning that skirted suggestive. Maybe it was the way they were used, but Mina still couldn't believe Ranma had gone with it. The worse part was when she got the latest census on Ranma's followers in Lowee. They were mostly women. RED's campaign had been selectively geared towards women. Most of the men coming were practitioners of various martial schools that had gotten wind of some of the new laws. Mina just knew that Ranma was going to be a might bit angry. Technically nothing "mushy" had been done. It just so happened to be implied as an undertone or just close enough that it could be explained away with an excuse. The worse part is that this was not even deviousness on RED's part. The girl had done this all with a straight face and admitted to this campaign being one that would ignite her fighting spirit. There was no mitigating this mess. Gust was not even trying to stop this as she said it was only going to make tourism to Eden that much more profitable.

* * *

The journey to the old ruins of Eden had been mostly a boring affair. While it was spiced up with battles against the monsters in the region, none of it had been all that challenging. Ranma had suspected as much when she considered the fact that both RED and Nisa had made it through here on their, but she had been hoping the larger group would attract something more that was worthwhile. In the end, the made good time and arrived midday on the third day. It was interesting to note the actual location was northwest of Lowee and that the clearing was the northern edge of the forest. Sure there was another forest north of the city, but the trees in it were different. In fact, there were bamboo trees found growing further in. To the west was a mountain range. To the east were shear cliffs overhanging the sea. Sadly this meant no beaches or ports. Ranma did have to wonder as she surveyed the area and looked over the map why this nation was founded in such a secluded location compared to the other nations. Leanbox seemed to be the only other nation with similar troubles in this regard but had more land for itself to be self sufficient and was easier to reach by both Planeptune and Lastation. Oh well, the more distance between her and the blonde nutcase the better.

At least along the way, she had been able to go over the basic plans of the old city and had gone about making her own initial plans. Apparently Eden used some weird fusion of Japanese and Chinese architecture. Ranma did not like the looks of the buildings and had insisted upon having the new city should use one culture or the other. However, the architects that had come with pointed out this would work against her as it would spit in the face of tradition and the heritage of those who descended from here. She had argued for a bit before they had come to a settlement. They would split the city up into three districts. The southern district would be Eden's traditional style while the northeast would be Japanese and the northwest Chinese. It had been a bit of an annoying argument during the nights, but Ranma liked the final compromise as it would leave two thirds of the city looking like what she considered proper. It was a start for now, but it was also subject to change based on what they find in the survey.

Now that they had arrived and were going about their job of surveying the city and surrounding region, Ranma had a job of her own to do. She went into the old Basilicom with Nisa guiding the way. They soon found the shrine room where the share core had been previously stored. The room seemed to have started to fall apart and was in the process of becoming like the rest of the old building. That changed immediately when Ranma set the core back into the central shrine. The room quickly repaired itself and returned to pristine condition. It looked quite nice. The room reminded Ranma of the inside of a temple back in Japan. The thing was it was much larger and somehow held a much more pristine and divine presence. Then when Ranma looked upon the now intact sliding doors, she found a red and white yin yang symbol. The true oddity of the situation was when Ranma and Nisa began to make their way back. The halls outside had been restored. Everything had the same aura as the shrine room. The sight of all the familiar architecture actually brought a smile to Ranma's lips as she looked upon it all fondly while she made her way out with a now startled and stunned Nisa. It took more time as it seemed the place had somehow grown in size and become more maze like. The biggest surprise had been when they made it out of the Basilicom. It had been fully restored by the power of faith that Ranma must have gained. It was a welcoming sight too. Ranma had been expecting to see some sort of oversized multiple story atrocity of Chinese and Japanese structures. Instead, she found it to be a massive red and white temple that still looked far too small for the distance they traveled inside it. Surrounding the main building were gardens, srines, and a builing that Ranma suspected to be a dojo. Not only that, but there was no outer wall surrounding the area. Instead it was suddenly surrounded by a Sakura forest with only a pathway leading south through a torii connecting the Basilicom to the rest of the city. It took them a while to make it out of the path as it turned out that the path went through ninety nine more of the gates before suddenly letting them out to the rest of the still ruined city. Ranma was even a little pissed when she looked back and saw that the Basilicom was too close behind them for the distance they had traveled. In short, the previous goddess actually made even her own home a pain for others to get to. It was starting to make a disturbing amount of sense. The old goddess must have protected her shares through seclusion. While this place will be a pain to deal with in the current set up, it must have been very well defended back then if Ranma's suspicions about the boundary forest was correct.

Ranma was a bit disappointed that the rest of the city had not been magically brought back, but at least it meant that they didn't need to worry about the massive pains of building a new Basilicom. There was a problem with easy access, but she was sure she could fix that later with some help. As they stood there looking out at the ruins, Falcom suddenly came running outside of forrest. As she looked about at the ruined city, she gawked in surprise not even noticing Ranma and Nisa standing there. Nisa seemed to be silent at the moment as well as she was trying to understand the craziness she had just witnessed.

"Hey Falcom, 'sup?" Ranma asked casually. This was just more of the usual for her after all. It was only then that that her fellow red head realized the other two were there and collected her self with a shake.

"Oh, hey Ranma, I was at the camp southeast of here when I saw a massive light coming from this place. I came to see if everything was ok. Instead, I found a forest in the way… I just now got through. Why is there a massive pink forest where the Basilicom should be?" She replied with a question of her own. Ranma didn't answer at first as she nodded in satisfaction and smirked.

"There isn't, the forest is 'round it. This is the south side and only entrance," Ranma replied as she gestured toward the gate. She had suspected as much since she read about stuff like this before. At least the previous goddess was nice enough to let the lost find the real entrance. Falcom just looked at Ranma in confusion. This was going to be a long week.

* * *

Indeed it had been a long week. As it would turn out, they were sorely lacking in one department of the initial survey. They had not brought a long a research group for magical research. Ranma was not looking forward to another escort journey to fix this after she delivered the reports of their initial findings. It also turned out that the new Basilicom wasn't even like the original as the old one was a massive Chinese pagoda with Japanese touches to the inside and the opposite theme for the inside. Also, the boundary forest was shown to be of bamboo. It would seem there was a going to be a lot of research involved in figuring out what kind of enchants had been used, why they were used, and how to fully utilize them. It may have saved them construction time, but it also was going to make this whole process more expensive if the research involved took longer than desired. Another thing she had done over the past week was that she went over all the information regarding the previous goddess of Eden. As it turned out, red was the new color of Eden as the old Goddess was known as Yellow Heart. There were quite a few odd things about the records as it almost seemed contradictory. Yellow Heart was a goddess who practiced martial arts and her culture thrived upon. It seemed however that in her latter years, she turned to mysticism and arcane arts to better protect herself after she suffered some form of betrayal. The records were highly ambiguous on the matter. It was, however, stated that the more she withdrew into herself to protect herself, the more she ended up distancing herself from her followers. The end result had been her final desperate fall where she declared her nation would rise up once more. It was a sad story, and the old footage that showed the blonde haired woman presented a high spirited lady whether she was in HDD or not. As Ranma flew back to Lowee in HDD, she began to think back on the other various events of the week after arriving. Like the incident when exploring the mountains.

* * *

"Hey Ranma, am I seeing things?" Falcom asked as they escorted members of the expedition up the mountains. They were collecting samples for a geological survey and checking for signs of volcanic activity. Ranma was actually hoping they would come back positive. True some might consider being near such things as dangerous, but they also meant something important. Hot Springs! It was for this reason that they followed a path up the mountain. They were not expecting what they would find though. They expected either an old abandoned mine or some rundown ruin of a building. Instead, they find a perfectly intact temple.

"Nope, I see a temple out in the middle of nowhere too… Think there's anyone here?" Ranma replied before wandering toward the building. Before she could step through the torii-

"Wait!" Falcom yelled before grabbing Ranma's arm and dragging her away.

"Hey, what the hell!?" Ranma screamed back as Falcom brought her attention to a sign she had not noticed before.

 **Stay away from this shrine less you wish to cross boundaries best left forgotten by those of the outside world. Cross the boundary of reality and illusion at your own peril.**

 **-Z.**

"Ok, thanks… also send word to everyone to stay clear of here and that I want this place walled off and heavily fortif-," Ranma ordered before cutting herself off as she saw something on the edge of her vision. She knew something had been there, but she saw nor sensed anything in the area anymore. This place was giving her the creeps. It was best this place never be messed with. That was what her experience told her," Also, we are destroying this path afterwards and keeping this a secret. I am not letting this bite me in the ass."

* * *

Even now, Ranma had no intention of going there and had very quietly had all records of the place erased. No one was going near that place. Not even the magic researchers. Just recalling that place gave her the creeps and she knew that wasn't a good sign. Ranma then pushed that thought to the back of her mind with a sigh as she tried to recall another incident. It wasn't all that hard really. There had been a lot found inside and outside of the city. As it turned out, the ruins of the city held a number of enchantments still active that had caused various issues. In other cases, it had turned out that some of the area actually was haunted. Speaking of haunted…

* * *

Ranma and Nisa were clearing out some wreckage in the city. It had been a trying time due to all the remnants of craziness. Ranma had already had to "exorcize" and "dispel" several locations (read as obliterating the location with divine power). As such, Ranma and Nisa got together and started working in tandem to more safely clear one of the more dangerous hot spots. It was at this time that Ranma lobbed a blast a building that had a weird aura about it. While the rubble had been scattered and smashed into far more manageable dust, grit, gravel, etc., it had revealed hidden underground location. Ranma did not like the feeling coming from within, but she was not going to enjoy listening to the complaints if she destroyed yet another unexplored underground ruin without checking it first. In her defense, the last one had a putrid smell and zombie like sounds echoing from it. She did not want to deal with that and simply collapsed the damn thing in with a series of blasts. This one, while giving off a weird aura, at least didn't have any sign of a horrible monster army resting within. Nisa took note of Ranma heading towards the smashes stairwell that seemed to lead down below and followed. As they descended into the strangely dungeon like depths, Nisa spoke up," So what do you think we'll find down here? Maybe a legendary weapon to slay evil with?"

Ranma smiled at her newest friend's strange tendencies. Sure it could be annoying to listen to her ramble on like that, but she did have her heart in the right place and was far more likely to hear you out. Then Ranma made her reply," Well, whatever's down here, at least it's not some undead monstrosity like the last one."

It was at this time that a melodic giggling filled the air and set the two would be explorers on edge. Ranma looked about nervously trying to find the source of the voice. Nisa almost stumbled and fell gown the stairs, but she regained her balance and righted her self. Then she struck one of her usual heroic poses and called out," Show yourself in the name of justice!"

" _Are you sure_?" asked the disembodied voice as ghostly lights began to appear and fill the passageway. It was then that Ranma started gathering divine power.

"Ok, that does it, looks like we're going to blow another one of these places to smithereens!" Ranma yelled out. Nisa looked to her in shock.

" _Are you sure you wish to burry yourself with me_?" Called out the ghostly voice. To this Ranma continued charging up with a smirk. The voice became a little shaken," _Your friend doesn_ _'_ _t look like she wants to join me_."

"Oh she'll be fine, I am a deity after all!" Ranma called out as she went HDD and began to form the power into a blast.

"WAIT! I BEG OF YOU!" called out a new voice as the lights disappeared and a glowing, silver haired girl in a goth get up complete with a frilly black parasol came flying out of the wall to latch desperately onto Ranma's legs," It was only a prank! It's been so long since I've seen anyone visit this old place, I just wanted to have a little fun. Please don't destroy it. This place holds some of my fond memories from when I lived!"

Ranma sighed and carefully let the gathered energy dissipate as she released HDD," Fine, wouldn't want to go destroying someone's home," Ranma then mentally added ' _and she_ _'_ _s not a cat ghost_ _…'_ and shivered a little without anyone taking notice.

"But, this isn't my home. I'm just visiting this place. I live far away from here, so I only visit every decade or so," The ghost explained as she floated up before Ranma in a more relaxed manner," Oh, and before I forget! My name is Pamela," she completed the introduction with a floating one handed curtsy. Nisa and Ranma just stared at the ghost in confusion before recollecting themselves.

"The name's Ranma Saotome, heir to the anything goes school of martial arts and the new deity of Eden," Ranma responded in kind with a gesture to herself and a confident smirk.

"I'm Nisa, a hero of justice!" Nisa declared as she stuck another pose.

"Oh wow! I get to meet another one of those? It's been so long," Pamela said with a giggle. Then she seemed to be lost in a nostalgic memory," So long since then."

* * *

As it turned out, the place was a secret alchemy lab back before what is known as modern alchemy became publically known. Ranma Had requested that that area be left alone to be developed at Gust's discretion. She did happen to recall that Gust had lost her license and equipment. Ranma figured that so long as she had a safe place to perform alchemy it should be fine. The lab she found was deep enough below ground and well built that even if something happened, it wasn't likely to affect the city itself. As for the ghost, she hanged around a bit and had Ranma promise not get rid of it. In return she agreed to let Gust use it so long as she took care of the place. She left yesterday to go back to her home. Where ever that was. Ranma never did get the name of the place from her, but it was just as well.

There sure seemed to be a lot of things left behind that people were not expecting. Even Falcom was a little shocked by one of the surprises found in their survey. It wasn't much of a memory as Ranma hadn't been there for the initial discovery, but Falcom had found the long lost first three tomes detailing the adventures of one of her ancestors. She seemed to be quite happy to make the discovery. The last Ranma heard of her speak about it, she was talking about having them published to be shared with the world once more. Ranma had not read too much of it herself As Falcom only loaned it to her one night and Ranma had been quite busy with everything else, but from what little she did read, she had no doubt the publication would prove to be a success. She actually couldn't wait to get a copy! Sadly, she would have to wait for a while as it seemed the next couple of months and likely longer than that were going to be busy.

* * *

Tekken was cheerfully _jogging_ into the city of Lowee. She was carefree and happily looking forward to making her challenge to Ranma. She had trained hard and finally gotten herself together regarding Ranma's gender and was ready to face her. It was then that she noticed a blockade of soldiers in her path to the Basilicom. She hadn't even remembered getting to city gate yet. It was then that she came to a screeching halt to look back and saw the damage her entry caused to the gate.

"Wow, my training must be paying off. I didn't even feel that," She noted out loud with a slightly dejected tone as she realized she had not felt smashing through the gate and leaving a Tekken shaped hole in it. They really needed to reinforce that.

* * *

"I got to say. A lot of these laws and policies are… interesting," Ranma commented as she went over the initial paperwork that RED and Gust had come up with. The two of them helped Ranma out by explaining it as Ranma looked through them. Well, mostly Gust helped out as RED seemed to get overly enthused and passionate about her hard work. Ranma had to agree that the whole passion thing might have been a good idea. Ranma actually liked the policies regarding martial arts and some of the groundwork for trying to get things rolling. One of the things that caught her attention, however, were the marriage laws which were why Ranma was a little conflicted at the moment. It was true that the laws did allow for all form of passion and prevented the misuse of it by stating that any legal arrangements made had no power unless all those to be wed were in agreement. However, Ranma could not help but notice that there was still mention of arranged marriage in the laws. She would rather have the practice banned outright, but she did have to admit that the practice was a tradition even in her old world and that these laws actually prevented their abuse. It even included a clause that any dowry involved was not to be known to the wedded nor given until after the wedding. Any such action would nullify the contract. Ranma couldn't help but wish these laws had been around in her own country.

Gust seemed a bit worried and was about to say something when a group of soldiers escorting someone came into the room. It was a slightly embarrassed Nisa.

"We are sorry to disturb your business, Red Heart, but this intruder violently smashed through the southern gate of the city and claims to have business with you," the lead soldier proclaimed as she stepped aside to allow Ranma a better view of Tekken.

"I said I'm sorry… I just was too excited to notice," Tekken stated in a small voice. Ranma could only shake her head ruefully at this. It was quite nostalgic for her.

"Yeah, I know how that is, so what's up Tekken?" Ranma asked with her signature smirk.

"I came to challenge you to a match and bring word of my master's interest in possibly challenging you afterward," Tekken said formally with a bow. Ranma's smirk changed to a warm smile at this but quickly disappeared.

"I'm sorry, but unfortunately I'm a bit busy and will be leaving to escort another survey team and some construction crews back to Eden very shortly. So can ya hold off for a bit?" Ranma asked as she tried to consider a way around the issue or to at least make it up. She wanted to accept, but now was not the time, she had too little time as it was and was going to need a little training time of her own if she was going to challenge a master. Tekken seemed a little sad at first and the room was quiet for a moment when RED intervened.

"Why not hold a big tournament to celebrate the opening of the city?" She asked. That drew both of the martial artist's attention. It would be fun to have a tournament and it would be a good to make up for the wait involved. Tekken smiled at this and nodded her agreement.

"I'll be looking forward to fighting you in it!" Ranma added only for Gust to step in.

"Gust sorry, but no good, no one would enter if you were in it… Exhibition Match for the winner?" Gust suggested. Ranma was not happy about not being able to be in the tournament proper, but she couldn't fault the logic. At least this way they could have their match.

* * *

Later on after Ranma had left, Gust and RED were taking a small break. The bunny girl was not pleased with her friend's Oracle.

"Why did you not bring up the exemption clause for the wedding laws?" Gust asked a little crossly. The only reason she had agreed to that clause was because she thought Ranma would shoot it down in the meeting earlier. Tekken's disturbance and Ranma's rush to get to her next job had prevented this and the law had gotten the ok.

RED looked to the cross girl after taking a sip of her tea and smiling before answering," That was supposed to be your job, this is just divine intervention for wifey's sake."

"How is that clause good for her!?" the younger looking of the two demanded before taking a bite out of a carrot stick and drinking her own tea.

"It's simple really. I want all wifeys to be happy, and after listening to the caring wifey about wifey Red Heart's past, I realized that she needs help finding happiness. That must be why I was chosen to be her Oracle," RED answered happily," You do want her to be happy, yes?"

Gust had to think on the matter. She had to admit she had yet to hear the whole story on Ranma's past, but she did remember that incident with the breakdown. She did want her friend to be happy and if that was what this was about, then she wouldn't be betraying Ranma. As such she let the matter of the law that exempted the goddess of Eden from the marriage contract protection laws.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I own none of the series involved. Nada... Though I'll happy pay you on a Tuesday for the rights today! (JK... And stop looking at me like that Wimpy... Fine, I don't own that joke either, no go get a hamburger!)

AN: Hey folks, sorry this took a week, but I had some personal issues... Anyways moving along. For those wondering about the references from last chapter, the first one should be made fairly clear this chapter (after this chapter, this will hold a much less prominent place in the story as it just amounts to a training dungeon for Ranma and such). The second was from Gust's Atelier series (though that series was never on an NEC system to my knowledge, Gust did have their first game on one and that's what lead to the decision for the reference). The third was YS books I, II, and III which were originally for NEC systems. Ok as for the last bit that caught some attention in the reviews, I and RED have a plan. I am still on a bench about pairings and plan to explore this a bit before making a choice on what to do on that front (this does not rule out a harem, anything is possible on this front at the moment). That being said, I haven't been showing all the cards in what I write and I hope this chapter's tipping of the hand helps get this point across. Well, have fun!(also, about the cameos today, I know I probably screwed SOMETHING up due to rushed research. I didn't pay too much attention for this part because I just wanted it to be a fun moment and have no plans to use these characters later on.)

* * *

It was late at night and RED was alone in her temporary room in Lowee with a laptop. She had been playing a new game since she discovered some information from a talk with Blanc. That was two weeks ago. Since then, she has been playing this game a couple hours a night and managed to get noticed by one of the top players and taken under her wing. This first success came a week ago. Now here she was on Four Goddesses Online (there was talk of a new expansion coming soon for a fifth goddess called "Fists of Passion") tonight. She was ready to go head long into another phase of her plans, but she was going to need a fellow master strategist of love to move forward. One who knew the others well enough to make her plans work.

 **Hey wifey big sis!** She typed to her soon to be accomplice

 **Oh! If it isn** **'** **t Little redhood! Are you ready for another night of fun with big sister !?3** Her target replied.

 **Yes, but it** **'** **s a bit different. I have a confession.** RED typed back.

 **Oh no, please tell you have not** **deceived** **me with your cute avatar and are some ugly creep!** Vert demanded.

 **I** **'** **m RED** **…** **The new Oracle** **…**

 **You! How dare you do this to me after what happened three weeks ago!**

 **Please forgive me, but this was the only way to get in touch with wifey big sis!**

 **Give me a good reason why I should not just put you on my ignore list.**

 **Because I need your help making everyone happy!**

 **…**

 **Please, I just want all wifeys to be happy! Also, there is a side benefit if it succeeds!**

 **A bribe is not going to cut it.** **I know that the whole thing was a misunderstanding, but I am still sorting out my feelings from then.**

 **Please, at least let me talk! Ranma really needs this and Chika won** **'** **t help out**

 **…** **Very well, you have my attention.**

And so it was that RED gained an ally and a new source of information in her quest. All wifeys must be happy.

* * *

It was now three weeks into the construction of Eden. Ranma would be going soon to drop off the weekly report from the survey teams and escort a shipment of additional supplies and equipment. She would also be taking along volunteers from the refugee camps along to aid in the construction efforts. Eden was developing well enough and the more crazy stuff within the city had been taken care of by the new specialists. In fact, it was thanks to them that things were finally going smoothly around here. Once they had the magic team studying the various spells and enchantments, they were able to more quickly and safely clear areas out without resorting to the nuke it option. While this might seem more time consuming, there were enough people on hand to cover a large enough area and this resulted in far less damage to the landscape. These teams also were turning up some interesting results from their research as well. The magic used in this region was a completely different sort from what was used in Lowee. It also seemed to have a lot of flexible applications. The problem was that it was different from what they knew. They had no idea how to go about recreating what they observed. They were only able to figure out what the enchantments and such did. While not completely useful, Ranma suspected that some of the residents planning to live here might be descendents from old Eden and know some of the secrets. As it stood, Ranma at least had an answer on what was up with the Basilicom. The place had a massive set of enchantments on it that were tied into the share core itself. That was why the place came back to life once the core was returned with all of the new shares. As for the cosmetic difference, the Basilicom was enchanted with the intent to give rise to another goddess and had been enchanted to actually take a form reflective of said goddess's tastes while still holding the functionality of the old one. This was why Ranma had a large, but modest, temple with gardens and a dojo. It was also why the defenses were changed to appear as they are now. The truth was that the forest itself was some sort of spatial illusion, that's what the specialists called, that could only be passed through the designated path. Sadly, it turned out that no one could fix the path until someone figured out how to use the magic. As it stood however, Gust stated that further research by Lowee's researchers were off limits for the time being as this knowledge was very valuable and she intended to turn it into one of Eden's specialties. Next week was when potential businesses were going to be allowed to start setting up shop and with them would be landscapers and other such teams to begin sprucing the place up. As it stood right now, they had residential areas nearing completion as well as various as a number of bathhouses and even some hot spring inns all with indoor plumbing, electricity, and other such commodities. As it turned out, there were several springs within the city itself. However the trip back to Lowee would be tomorrow.

Today, she was observing the construction of the walls and fortifications around the mountain temple. There had been a number of mysterious sightings all over the place now from construction workers as they tried to put up the wall. The magic researchers were kept clear of the area in spite of their insistence to investigate. Ranma was taking no chances with this place and was especially on edge after receiving sightings of ghostly figures and what they looked like. The descriptions varied from a witch, priestesses, girls with parts (such as wings, horns, and the like). One thing was always the same in the reports though. They were always women. This only made Ranma more on edge about the place. Disaster was written all over it. It was while in the midst of these musings that a voice called out.

"Why are you all here!?" demanded a girl with long dark hair wearing something akin to a miko's outfit only it was more like a red dress with detached white sleeves and she had a large red bow in her hair. She also looked annoyed. Ranma sighed. Her hopes of avoiding the disaster were crumbling right before her eyes.

"You wouldn't mind going back to where you came from and not causing me a headache, would you?" Ranma called back to the girl standing inside the torii. She glared at Ranma before pointing at her.

"You the one in charge here? I demand you cease your actions in claiming my shrine and leave at once!" the red and white maiden demanded.

"Sorry, but not an option. This place is a potential hazard and I'm not gonna let it go unwatched when it's right next to my city," Ranma replied as she stepped up and took a stance," I'm sorry lady, but this place gives me the creeps and I'm not letting it bite me in the ass."

The would be miko was fuming at this statement," How dare you! I-"

"Look, I've got enough trouble as it is! All I'm asking is that you turn around, let these workers finish their job, and keep in line," Ranma cut in. The young woman seemed to be seething and her temple twitching. Ranma had no illusions that this was going to end well.

"Y-you dare to order me to leave and play nice when you are blatantly trying to seize control of the barrier!" She screamed before pulling out a purification rod (gohei) and seals as floating yin yang orbs appeared around her. Her aura was so powerful that the workers were already taking shelter behind the completed sections of the wall. Ranma sighed in exasperation as she drew in power to prepare for whatever was going to come. Sadly, she had not been prepared enough.

The girl suddenly took to the air and started throwing seals around like Mousse. Also with a wave of her gohei, the area was flooded by a multitude of flying orbs. At first, Ranma was worried for the damage this insane attack pattern was going to cause to the surrounding area as she dodged the seals. This was quick relieved when she noticed that the "bullets" were not harming anything in the area. Seeing this, she assumed that they were an illusion meant to distract the opponent from the real threat. As such, she smirked as she held her ground to transform so she could engage in close quarters combat. She was cut off from doing so as a number of the bullets hit her. They actually had a decent punch to them and caught Ranma off guard and forced her to roll with the blows to a better position to dodge the other incoming attacks and another flurry of seals. This was utterly insane… and Ranma was enjoying the challenge. She actually broke out into a smile as she started a dance like movement to weave between the attacks as she tried to go HDD. If she was going to fight back, she needed to fly. It was at this time she discovered a new element to the mysterious girl's style. More seals seemed to flood the area and this time some of them were actually following Ranma's movements. She barely managed an evasion from the troublesome projectiles and the effort of doing so broke her focus on calling HDD yet again. As frustrating as it was, it did not break her smile. Ranma had been needing this for so long. Her eyes began to gleam with excitement as she decided a counter attack. She was going to need an opening to if she was going to transform, and in order to do that, she was going to have to fight back. At first, she tried launching a couple bolts at her opponent only for them to be dodged effortlessly. She had to find a way to counter this ridiculous fighting style. That was when Ranma's smile broke into a predatory smirk as her hands flashed at high speed and blurred from sight. In that moment, numerous small hand sized red bolts flashed into existence and went speeding away towards her opponent at a speed much faster than her foe's attacks had been at. These bolts would only hit about quarter as strong as Ranma's own punches, but they were all the energy she could collect to literally throw at her foe at Kachuu Tenshin Amiguriken enhanced speeds. However unlike her enemy's strangely elegant and massive patterns, she was focusing on more precise bursts meant to threaten her foe. The girl looked shocked at first, but she still managed to dodge the attacks in spite of the suddenness of the attack and the speed of the shots. During this, her attack pattern let up a little and Ranma finally managed to pull off a transformation and take to the air herself.

Now the fight had a new dimension added to it as the patterns the used for their ranged attacks had to accommodate Ranma's own flight patterns and the miko's dodging. As the battle continued, Ranma gave chase and tried to close as the girl constantly and seemingly effortlessly kept the range opened. If that weren't bad enough, Ranma was also becoming quite aware of the reasons behind her opponent's fighting style. She was clearly used to fighting aerial battles against highly evasive targets and the attack patterns were meant to overwhelm the opponent. Not only that, the attacks she used seemed to only harm people. She actually showed the consideration to the surrounding area. It was quite refreshing.

Suddenly, the girl seemed to change tactics. Nothing about her firing patterns changed, but she seemed to have realized a flaw in Ranma's attacks and went about positioning her self so that the construction site where the workers were located was now in Ranma's line of fire. In consternation, she had to stop her attack. A single word fell quietly over the battlefield. It was barely loud enough for her foe to hear it over the sounds of battle.

"Why?"

The red and white clad figure gave pause at the new expression that had accompanied this single word. Ranma was furious at the new tactic used. It had been an underhanded one that involved unwilling bystanders. The girl seemed to be confused at first until a look of realization dawned on her. Unfortunately, Ranma didn't even notice as she burst into new found speeds to finally engage the distracted girl in hand to hand. That was the only opening Ranma got as it turned out the girl did know how to fight close in as well with. It was a flurry of pointblank shots, punches, kicks, dodging and even blocking. They went on like this for less than a minute before the engagement finally broke with the other girl suddenly disappearing from the melee to show up again several meters away. This time Ranma had faired much better she noted as she saw the developing bruises. She even would have been happy to note this if she wasn't still angry at the underhanded move from before. As it stood, they stared each other down as they both considered how to engage the other.

It was at this time that a new sound was finally heard and both combatants turned their heads to see another strange woman clapping at their performance with a beaming smile that somehow almost felt sinister to Ranma. She was a older blonde woman wearing a purple Chinese tabard over a pale pink dress and sporting a mob cap. She was perched upon a strange dark portal with eyes. She also gave off a strange aura that seemed almost twisted in nature and felt like that of the shrine Ranma had sought to seal away. Ranma actually shivered inside at the sight of this woman. The other girl glared at the newcomer. She clearly was not pleased.

"What is your business here Yukari!" the girl called out sternly. The other woman laughed mischievously at this.

"I was enjoying the show of course," She began only to receive a glare for what was clearly a lie from the other girl. The woman, Yukari, sighed at this," Very well Reimu, I came to have a talk with the new goddess of these lands."

"So whaddya want with me?" Ranma demanded in an annoyed voice. It didn't matter that this Yukari gave her the creeps. What mattered is the woman was also managing to irritate her. The woman turned her attention to her and giggled.

"Oh, the things I could ask for," She said pleasantly with a sinister smile that broke before she continued," Sadly, I am hear in a more official capacity today as my dear shrine maiden here has noticed," she answered before pulling out a fan and opening it before her mouth," What are your plans for the shrine below?"

"Look, I have no idea what's up with that place. All I want is to make sure whatever it is doesn't cause me or anyone else around here trouble," Ranma tried to explain.

Yukari didn't even hesitate before clarifying, "Hmmmm, so I take it you mean you were simply trying to contain a possible threat with the good of your people in mind? I must say you are actually quite the cautious goddess-"

"Would you stop calling me that!?" Ranma demanded suddenly then felt a cold chill run down her spine as Yukari's eyes seemed to pierce her very being.

"Oh my you are a treat!" The woman declared suddenly," Very well then, deity, I wish to talk to you about my home and see about making more proper arrangements."

* * *

After that, Ranma followed the other two women into the shrine. Upon crossing the torii, everything seemed to change. The shrine now looked more lively and the surroundings seemed to be different. It reminded Ranma of the enchantments in her city. She was going to have to ask about that. They proceeded to pass the main building and go to a the shrine maiden's living area. Once they were inside and settled around a table, Reimu left to go make some tea.

"You know, you're lucky she was holding back in that fight," Yukari opened," Though she wouldn't admit it. I guess even angered she didn't want to go all out."

"Holding back!? Yeah right lady! If that were true she wouldn't a used that under handed tactic," Ranma shot back angrily as her pride rose in retaliation. Yukari only hid her mouth behind a fan once more as she giggled.

"She didn't circle back to use your people as a shield. You actually were doing well enough at mimicking a danmaku battle that she forgot your attacks were not part of the spell card system. The reason she went back towards the shrine was to maintain her connection to that or else watch the surrounding area get heavily damaged," the older blonde explained," If Reimu had taken you seriously, she would have used a spell card much sooner than to disengage from your little brawl," Ranma's ego took a blow at that point. She had a distinct feeling the woman was telling the truth, but her pride refused to believe what was being said," Oh, don't look like that. That was your first time fighting like that without even knowing the rules against one of the best. Though if you had got her in melee again, she would likely have lost. Though that was mainly because you broke danmaku rules at that point."

"She's right you know, you should be thankful she intervened when she did. I was about to go all out. I do not like rule breakers," Reimu commented as she returned with some tea and they moved on to more pressing matters. As it turned out, Eden had a lot of weird things back in the day. Among these was that they actually had youkai living in the city. When the goddess was falling out of favor, one of the foremost practitioners of magic, a man named ZUN, made an arrangement with several powerful groups to establish this hidden world behind some powerful barrier. As it turned out, Ranma's actions were seen as an attempt to control that world. After clearing up what had actually happened, Ranma was able to make several agreements with them. First of all, was an agreement to allow for Ranma's people to learn about their lost art of magic in exchange keeping this place a secret. Secondly, Ranma got permission to free enter this world so long as she learned and followed the spell card rules and kept her nose out of incidents. Once this matter was cleared up, Ranma left the shrine to oversee the construction of the wall once more. They would be set back by a day, and Ranma would be elsewhere so she was going to have to delegate this to one of the others. Most like Falcom since she didn't want another misunderstanding.

* * *

Now Ranma found her self in Lowee sitting at a table with the others and her eye was beginning to twitch. Why was it twitching now? As it turns out, a new arrangement had been made behind Ranma's back. One that meant she would not be going back to Eden for a couple of weeks.

"Now Ranma, calm down," Mina tried to soothe," It was very difficult to get Noire to agree to this and it is an important opportunity for you."

"You are aware that I need time to train for that tournament right?" Ranma demanded," One week will hardly be enough!"

"Don't worry!" RED jumped into the conversation," I am confident wi-you can win!"

"Yes, as it is, I very much doubt Tekken will beat you. It is more important now that we have almost completed the road and are starting to move in secure assets that you take this opportunity to learn about the duties of being a goddess from the most dutiful of them," Mina pointed out," Remember that you have to use your time wisely. Also, it would be good for trying to establish better relations with Lastation."

"Couldn't I just learn from Blanc or something? She's much closer and that would be a better use of my time," Ranma tried to argue. Mina's lip quirked for a fraction of a second before returning to normal.

"As much as it pains me to say… Noire is more dedicated to her job as a goddess than My Lady. It would be better to learn from her I'm afraid," Mina said almost grudgingly.

Ranma was not happy about this. She was essentially being told to put all the fun training she had been hoping to have on hold to go hit the books. This somehow reminded her of back when she moved into the Tendos' home. She was already dreading what kind of pains she was going to have to deal with once she got there. Somehow she doubted the goddess of black had forgiven her for the landing back then. As Ranma left the room, she never noticed the glint in RED's eyes.

* * *

It was night and Mina, Chika, RED, and Gust were holding a meeting. Ranma had brought some interesting news that only RED and Gust were entirely privy to. Mina did not like the fact that some sort of secret was being kept from the other nations. She was also regretting sharing the Ranma's history with RED. It seemed she was now dead set on a dangerous plan. Mina was starting to feel she was putting too much faith into Ranma's share core. The fact was that ultimately the chosen Oracle is supposed to be what the CPU needed most. However, Mina could not see how RED quite figured into this anymore. Ever since she finished telling her about Ranma's past, RED had begun to engage in some plan of hers. The first thing was that law. Mina found the whole thing ridiculous. She personally did not feel it was right, but she trusted the position and not the person in this matter. It also didn't hurt that the law was harmless except for how Ranma was bound to react. It seemed that Gust had even crumpled on this point and Mina's lack of intervention could be to blame. As it stood, that woman had then gone and recruited a CPU for her plan. Then earlier in the week, she opened up negotiations with Lastation in order to get the current arrangement and Mina was still curious how she had managed to get Noire to agree to the current arrangement. As it stood, Mina had not been in on those conferences as well because they were foreign dealings.

"Now that we are all here, what is the purpose of this meeting?" Mina demanded.

"Well, it would seem wifey Red Heart has made some interesting discoveries this time," RED cheerfully answered.

"Gust thought it important as well. We now have access to important commodity!" Gust agreed.

"Ok, but what IS this about?" Chika demanded annoyed.

"Wifey found a way for us to learn the lost magic and possibly more!" RED stated happily as if she could not hear Chika's tone. Mina had to think on this detail for a moment. They had already found a way to learn a lost magical art and they had done it without even having any of their own researchers on site. Then Mina remembered the reports regarding Ranma's attempts to keep a mountain temple secured and secret. Sadly, that was doomed to failure from the outset since the personnel were from another nation. Mina had agreed to follow Ranma's orders and had told the Lowee workers to keep reporting to her but to otherwise follow Ranma's declaration of secrecy. As it stood, that place was the only unknown factor that came to mind.

"This wouldn't have to do with Ranma's little secret, would it?" Mina brought up. Chika's eyes lit up at this and RED looked a little surprised while Gust was unabashed.

"Yup, Gust knew you had to be keeping tabs. They are your people," Gust said cheerfully with a mischievous smile before turning serious," But Gust must warn. Leave alone, very dangerous."

Chika looked on curious at this particular matter as RED seemed to be resigned at missing something like this before shooting Gust a glare. Gust's response was to smile nonchalantly at RED. It was clear that Gust had kept some matters to herself for the time being and that the two of them were not quite on good terms. Mina's guess was that she still had second thoughts on following RED's plan. Mina sighed at the foolishness and turned her attention back to the matter at hand," So ignoring the origin of this detail, what is it you wished to discuss?"

"Well, that was an excuse to get this meeting together," RED said cheerfully to the astonishment of the other two Oracles and the confusion of the bunny girl," I wanted to make something of a proposition to the other Oracles and thought it would be nice to have you two backing me up when we brought the others in."

Gust suddenly had a moment of insight and paled as RED shot her a smirk. Mina was not sure what to expect, but she was getting a distinct feeling that she should be apprehensive of what was to come. Keeping this in mind, she spoke up," This had better not have anything to do with contracts."

Chika seemed to be confused at that statement, but RED's smile only grew as she shook her head. Gust had only paled even more when she saw this," Gust thought that was a joke! Gust doesn't thi-"

"Oh, like it's gonna get all that bad!" RED declared cheerfully," Plus it is for the good of all wifeys!"

It was then that RED unveiled the next step of her great plan. It was the perfect measure for acquiring what she needed and it was the perfect thing to use to further her goals on multiple fronts with her goddess. As it stood, the other two Oracles were hesitant of this new arrangement, but by the end of the meeting, they had agreed to back RED up in her new arrangement as it would definitely help out the relations of the nations.

* * *

Noire was in her office considering all the trouble she and her big mouth had landed her for the next few weeks. She really did not want to sit down and deal with this. As it stood, she was still trying to get the bureaucratic mess that was caused by her three year absence under control. Now thanks to that new redhead, she was going to have to teach the newest goddess about the details of the job of being a CPU. Seriously, was it her fault she was the best and the girl new it? Was it her fault the new nation was going to be overshadowed by the majesty of the land of black regality no matter what? Noire was not looking forward to tomorrow evening when Ranma was supposed to arrive. As it stood however, she did have a free moment and she might as well enjoy it.

* * *

Ranma was very annoyed with RED at this moment. The Oracle had managed to not only get her the goddess, who had reason to have a grudge against her, to teach her, but she had managed to mix up the schedule. Now here Ranma was flying in frustration to Lastation straight from Lowee after the meeting. It was past night time when she arrived at the Basilicom and met Kei. If Ranma hadn't gotten used to meeting so many cross dressers and deailing with her own curse, she might have mistaken the Oracle of Lastation for a guy. As it stood, Kei had something of a confused look on her face.

"I'm here about the lessons. Ya wouldn't mind telling me where I can meet Noire?" Ranma asked after they shared introduced themselves. The androgynous girl seemed to be contemplating something when Uni showed up.

"Oh, we have a visitor? What are you here for Ranma?" She asked curiously.

"I need to meet with your sister for some stuff," Ranma answered without a thought.

"Oh, well she should be up in her office right now; here I'll show you the way!" Uni said before going off with Ranma following. Kei was still trying to figure out for what purpose Ranma would show up a day early. She knew it couldn't be because of any form of zeal as Ranma did not look particularly happy when she showed up. That meant she must have been told to come early, but she knew her Lady would not have requested it. This meant that someone else had to have done so. This really only left RED as the likely suspect. The problem was she didn't have much information except the rumors to go by and she was still trying to figure out who had told her about how to deal with Noire. Lowee always had some issues on this front. Though it was common for Neptune to use these tactics, she didn't think they had gotten along enough for Neptune to tell them… unless there was pudding involved. The problem was that RED would have had to known about that quirk as well. It was then that she realized what was going on and it was most likely too late to stop the initial stroke of this plan. Kei sighed as she considered how troublesome RED was going to be to deal with in the future. Then she leisurely made her way to hopefully do some damage control.


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: hmm, let's see. Do I have money? nope... T_T ... then I guess I don't own any of these series.

AN: Hey there, sorry about the delays on this chapter. Hopefully it will be fun. Also, for those of you interested, I have opened up a poll for my next story. You should be able to find it on the profile page. Don't worry, this story is no where close to being finished. This is just so I have something to fall back on to help combat the dreaded bane of all writers. Writers block! So drop by to help me choose my next weapon to combat this foul beast! That being said, have fun!

* * *

Blanc was in her room "working". She had just begun a new story since she finally completed her unfinished works from three years ago. She was just a little frustrated at the moment. The reason for this was that she just could not bring herself to focus on writing. Every time she started piecing a story together, she ended up backsliding into writing about Ranma. This was no form of affection as far as she was concerned. No, it was simply the fact that Ranma's life had been one that was so interesting that it demanded to be written about. The problem was that it was Ranma's story and Blanc had no right. Thus it was that she found herself typing away in frustration that evening. While she was frustrated, she was thankful that she had this problem today. Normally the twins would be in here any minute asking to play or to play one of their pranks if Blanc didn't. That's what made Blanc thankful that she would actually have a whole day to work this block out. Today was a Ranma day. After Ranma's first report, they had taken a more relaxed stance to give the workers more time to prepare and volunteers more time to gather. That meant that Ranma's weekly visits had become a day long affair and Ranma usually would get dragged off by the twins after the work was done. Ranma didn't even mind spending time with the twins and dinner was always very lively. Blanc giggled a little as she recalled Mina trying to get Ranma to use table manners and stop the twins from copying her poor example whenever Ranma fell onto bad habits. She may bring a little trouble where ever she goes, but it's never boring. The twins really loved playing with Ranma. Blanc was just finishing deleting her latest attempt when her door was flung open. This was not right, Mina would not burst through the door like that even in an emergency. With a sinking realization, she looked up to see Rom and Ram. Rom seemed a little worried as she looked to Blanc with hopeful eyes. Ram seemed a little agitated as she looked about the room. Blanc waited in dread for the confirmation of her fears.

"Where is Ranma!" demanded a frustrated Ram.

"Ranma is not here," Rom quietly added. Blanc sighed at this.

"Just sit tight you two and I'll check," Blanc tried to reassure as she took out a cell phone and called Mina and asked in a forceful tone," Where. Is. She?"

"Uh, who?" Mina asked over the phone before sudden realization struck her and she shakenly continued," O-oh, Ranma… She had u-urgent business to attend to in Lastation. She won't likely be in Lowee for a couple weeks since she will be taking CPU lessons from Noire-"

The call, and her latest cell phone, ended in a spray of shrapnel. Ranma was not here. That was bad enough. Ranma is not going to be here for a few weeks and therefore make the twins unhappy. That was bad, very bad in fact. The reason for her absence being to learn something from Noire she would have been happy to take care of if only because it would make the twins happy. That was infuriating. Not to mention that none of this had anything to do with her wanting to be around Ranma too. That would be absurd! Mina was going to be hearing about this _personally_. It was then that she looked up to see her little sisters looking down at the ground sadly. Blanc shelved her anger for later and took a deep breath. She can do some "work" some other time," Come on you two, let's have some fun together," She said as she shut her laptop and left the room with them in tow. Behind her fury, Blanc felt a little sad.

* * *

Ranma was following Uni through the Basilicom until she stopped in front of the door that most likely lead to Noire's office," Here you go, she should be right in here."

"Thanks," was all that Ranma answered with as she opened the door without a thought. After all, it was an office. Sure, she would be disturbing Noire's work, but she should be expecting her any moment now. As such, Ranma was completely surprised by what she found on the other side of the door. As it would turn out, Noire did in fact do things other than work in her office. For example, dressing up like a character on the TV and practicing copying the poses. In this case, it was dressing up in a pink dress complete with pink wig, dog ears, and tail and trying to mimic a song and dance with a karaoke mic in hand. As it so happens, Ranma was used to weird occurrences and has worn some rather interesting things in the past. The concept of cosplay was so completely foreign that Ranma didn't even register it as something embarrassing and assumed there had to be a good reason for this. That was until she noticed the blush on Noire's face that was starting to put her costume to shame and heard the shocked stuttering of the candidate behind her. Ranma quirked an eyebrow at this," What? That thing may be a little too girly for me, but I see nothing wrong here. Heck, I've worn far worse."

Ranma was greeted by stunned silence that replaced the growing blush and stuttering. A moment later, Uni very promptly shut the door behind Ranma.

* * *

 _My big sister is into cosplay and Ranma is even more into it._ Uni was confused and had no idea on what to think on the matter at hand. She wasn't going to hold this against her sister. It was Noire's hobby, and while it was image destroying, Noire was her big sister. No the problem is that she had just embarrassed her sister, let someone else see her secret, and she had no way to ignore that this ever happened. So there she was staring at a wall with her back against the door that had led her to this moment. This is the scene that Kei was greeted by a couple minutes later when she finally arrived on the scene.

* * *

Ranma wasn't completely insensitive to the current situation. She could tell that the other goddess was embarrassed by the current situation. This was a delicate situation that would require some good verbal maneuvering and such. Ranma was screwed. Oh well, she could always get those lessons from Blanc after this. Be more for with the twins around. In any case, she might as well get it over with," So uh, what's this for?"

Noire blushed a little as she turned her head away from Ranma and tried to come up with a response. She took a moment before huffily responding," Like it matters! Why are you here? You were supposed to be here tomorrow!"

Ranma took a moment to scratch her pigtail in confusion before answering," Strange, I was rushed out of Lowee and told I needed to be here tonight. Sorry 'bout this…"

Noire thought this over for a moment. She wanted to be angry with Ranma over the whole matter. She even wanted to accuse Ranma of lying, but she stopped to consider the matter. She knew that this part of her was being irrational and was brought about by the fact that her sister had caught her in the act as well. She took a breath to consider the current situation and then remembered a certain detail Ranma had mentioned when she had been in shock. She asked curiously," Is it true you've done this stuff before too?"

Ranma nodded at this with a little bit of a blush of her own and replied," Yup, I've worn a lot of get ups from the bunny girl outfit to a girl's school uniform, even dressed up as someone's little sister one time…"

Ranma was now looking away and blushing a little admitting this fact. Noire was a little shocked at this as she made her next comment," Wait, I thought you were supposed to be a guy and hated this stuff!"

"Hey, if ya got the body for it ya use it! No point in letting an opportunity pass ya by!" Ranma answered heatedly at the challenge to her masculinity.

"Okay, I get it," Noire answered back but smiled as a thought to came to mind," I let this mess up slide for now, but you owe me something for ruining Uni's image of me."

Ranma sighed at this. Of course she was going to have to pay up for this even though it wasn't her fault to begin with and answered begrudgingly," Fine."

"Hey now, I'm not going to ask much, and heck, you might even have fun with what I have in mind," Noire spoke to reassure Ranma.

* * *

Uni and Kei listened from the other side of the door. Uni seemed to have some mixed feelings still while Kei considered the matter and let out a small sigh. Kei was afraid this was going to turn into something of a diplomatic incident with the new nation. As it turns out, Ranma had somehow navigated her way through this matter unaided. Kei was not entirely happy however. The fact was that this was a clear use of manipulation. It may have been used well to improve the less than stellar relation of these two goddesses, but Kei was not happy where this could lead. The problem was that she had no idea how to control this matter without causing unwanted stress to international relations. It would seem she was going to have to tread lightly for now and see where this went. With the conversation coming to an end on the other side of the door, Kei grabbed Uni's shoulder and with a nod began to lead her away back to another more private room in the Basilicom. Once Uni was seated, Kei left to retrieve some tea and snacks. This gave Uni a little more time to sort herself out on the matter. Once the Oracle was back and seated across the table from the Candidate, Kei began," Are you ok?" She received a nod," Is there anything you'd like to know?"

"How long has my sister, well," Uni started off a little bashfully.

"Lady Noire has had that hobby of hers even before I became Oracle. It is not something that is kept on record. However, this hobby of hers is a known fact in some circles as she does secretly attend events from time to time. In fact, I think all of the other CPUs know about this whether they will admit to it or not," Kei answered honestly. Uni took a moment to let this sink in. Her mental image of her big sister had been shattered today. However, she smiled at this as she realized she now knew something personal about her big sister. It might be a little embarrassing for a bit, but everything should be back to normal in no time.

* * *

The following morning Ranma found herself in Noire's office once again. Noire had some books out and was sitting at her desk going over some paper work as she waited for Ranma to be seated in front of her. Noire was wearing a pair of glasses and dressed up in some formal attire that reminded Ranma of Ms Hinako.

"Well, you certainly dressed for the occasion," Ranma muttered to which Noire blushed a little and buried herself further in her work.

After a moment, she cleared her throat before taking on the persona of a tutor and finally spoke up as she adjusted her glasses," Ok Ranma. Before I can teach you about the job itself I want to see where your education level is at. According to RED, you haven't finished high school and you may have some deficiencies in certain areas," Ranma frowned at this," As it stands, you'll be taking tests so I know where to start with you."

Once that was said, Noire slid a small stack of papers over to Ranma. These tests only covered some of the areas of education. For instance, the history and literature portions were omitted due to the fact there was no way for Ranma to have any prior knowledge before coming here. The main areas of concern were math, science, and language. These were very important to know for what Ranma had to learn. History and literature was also important, but she would have to settle for giving Ranma a simple over view in those and leave that to RED to take care of.

While Ranma suffered through tests for the next couple of hours, Noire continued to go over paper work. As it stood, she would soon be caught up fully on everything left undone over the years. When she got the tests back from Ranma, she wanted to scream in frustration. As it turned out, science in this world was also different. While many of the basics still applied, many of the details and intricacies did not. That was going to be another major pain to fix on top of the other two major subjects. Then there was the math section. As it turned out, Ranma had some deficiencies here. Interestingly enough, the language portion was Ranma's best subject.

"Ok, this is seriously bad!" Noire stated as calmly as she could, which was not all that calm at all," I mean, wow, you barely know what passes for middle school math around here and the only other thing you have useful knowledge on is language. What the hell?"

"Hey, it's not my fault! I spent most my life on the rode learning the art with my pops and he only let me go to school a little from time to time!" Ranma screamed back," And it's not my fault that I don't know most of this other stuff! Not my fault the rules are different here!"

Noire let out a sigh as she made a mental note to check in with RED about what the circumstances were behind Ranma's education in full detail. It also didn't help that Ranma's world seemed to be lagged behind her own in development. As it stood, she handed Ranma the primers on History and Literature," Here, I want you to read up on these while I go and get some more supplies. You can study where ever you like, but be sure to be back here by noon. I should have everything I need to get started with you by then."

With that said, the two left the room and went their separate ways. Ranma decided to leave for a nearby park and began pouring through the given materials. While it was still boring to study, Ranma was actually relieved by the novelty of being able to do something so simple and mundane out in broad daylight without worry. It was one of the more interesting details about this world. While there were still chaotic moments in Ranma's life, this world offered more peace and allowed Ranma take to do things in stride as well as to offer new challenges. All she had to do was look for them. Sometimes when she thought about this and the fact that it would all have to end when she returned to home, it saddened her. As tempting as this world was, there were still several things that drove her to need to return home. She had people waiting for her back there. She at least hoped the others cared. There was also the matter of her honor as well as that of the girls back home. She had to return to fulfill her duties and find the best solution to the situation. She could ultimately never turn her back on her honor as it was one of the few things in her life she could truly call her own. Finally, there was the most important matter to be addressed. If Ranma stayed here, she would be turning her back on her manhood. This was unacceptable. She was going to find a way to get her male side back and then return home. However, she had to deal with the situation at hand before she went about it. She had no interest and dying just yet and there was no guarantee that she would have found her solution anytime soon. After all, she spent something like a year and a half and still had not found a cure for the curse before coming here. Well, she might as well enjoy this world while she was here. With this in mind, Ranma enjoyed the simple mundane task of studying without worry.

* * *

Kei had been planning to contact Lowee to file a complaint with the Oracle of Eden when she unexpectedly received a conference call from Lowee instead. Included in the call was Planeptune as well. Kei looked on curiously as she accepted the video conference. In one window, she saw Histoire sitting on her tome as per usual with a cheerful air about her. In the other window, much to Kei's shock, was RED, some little girl with a bunny hat, Chika, and Mina. It seemed that something important was underway. With this thougt in mind, Kei shelved her complaints for later.

"Hey, there, I am RED, the Oracle of Eden," RED introduced herself before clasping the little girl's shoulder," And this cute little wifey is Gust, my financial advisor appointed by wifey Red Heart!"

Kei stared in shock at this woman. She had heard about the rumors and knew that the new oracle was supposed to be that rumored individual. It had not prepared her for this however. The seeker of love was now an oracle and apparently had some very disturbing quirks. Kei found herself wondering for a moment if the woman called every female a wife or just the ones she was interested in. Based on the way the others ignored it, Kei figured it was the former rather than the latter. After all, the idea of an oracle out to make a yuri harem was a bit scary to consider. As it was, Kei and Histoire introduced themselves to the new acquaintances.

"So, now that the introductions are out of the way, what is this about?" Kei demanded.

"My, always straight to the point as usual," Mina stated.

"I find it best not to waste time that can be better put to use," Kei shot back and awaited for an answer to her original question.

"Well," RED took over," After some thought on the matter, I thought it would be nice to make something of a new agreement with the other oracle wifeys!" Kei blanched at this and desperately hoped this was only a quirk. She made a mental note to make plans for in case she wasn't. She might as well find some way to make as much profit out of the matter while finding a way to set up an out," After thinking about it, I found that I don't really know all of you that well and thought it would be nice to make a get together for better relations!"

"While I agree that the idea is a nice thought, I must point out that there are better things we can be doing with our time," Histoire answered politely," Unless there is something more to it than just hanging out, I must decline."

Kei was nodding in agreement to her fellow oracle. This was stopped when she noticed that RED wasn't discouraged. Mina had something of a smirk. Mina was calm as ever, and Gust seemed to be resigned to whatever was to come judging by the slump of her shoulders and frown. RED smiled on as she replied," Of course there's something more! We are going to be using this time to not only better our relations but also to handle special negotiations that would never happen otherwise!"

Kei and Histoire were hesitant at first, but they eventually agreed to the special terms of these meetings. It would be fun and there would definitely be advantages to how they would go over these negotiations. Kei also liked the potential it held for a high reward. They spent the rest of the conference going over and deciding rules before ending it after scheduling their first meeting in one week.

* * *

Noire sat at her desk one night going over Ranma's latest test scores. Kei was gone on to a special oracle summit that was now going to be a weekly thing. At first Noire was not to pleased as it meant she would have to do more work on top of trying to teach Ranma, but her sister had stepped in to meet the occasion. Noire was proud of Uni for how much she had grown. Uni had done a good job handling the work. Noire was even happy to find that the awkwardness caused by Ranma's unexpected arrival had cleared up over night. Speaking of Ranma, Noire looked down at the tests in front of her after finally finishing them. She had been quite shocked to find out that Ranma was actually a fairly intelligent person. She now found that Ranma had somehow managed to get a good foundation for the middle school level mathematics and science. She had even managed to finish reading the primers in her spare time as of today. She was shocked by this rate of learning at first. When she broached the issue with Mina, she found out the truth. Ranma had never had enough time to properly study and had been in a high stress environment. She was a little put off when Mina only explained that much about Ranma and told her that it was Ranma's decision if she wanted to know more. Whatever had been going on, it was clear to Noire that Ranma had been sabotaged academically. However, she was now more confident that Ranma would be able to at least learn the basics of running a nation as a goddess in the time they had. As it stood, Ranma had something of a handicap compared to other goddesses. When a CPU comes into being, they have the basic knowledge required to run and develop their own nation. In fact, the candidates shared this as well, but they had to learn how to operate the nation their older sister had established as each nation had their own set of rules and bureaucracy. As it currently stood, Lowee is the only nation that has yet to fully train their candidates in this matter. This was by no fault of Blanc or her oracles but due to the immaturity of the twins. They had the base knowledge but getting them to settle down long enough to make good progress in teaching them had been hard if what Noire had heard was true. That being said, she had also heard from Uni that she and Nepgear had helped Mina out with this and the twins would finally be fully educated soon.

As it stood, however, Ranma was going to be running a nation soon as it was and was being forced to leave most of the current groundwork to the oracles. After the nation is established, Ranma would have to work with the initial policies and develop it from there. That being said, Noire still had a break planned for the lesson. As it turns out, she had been looking forward to attending a convention and forgot about it when she agreed to teach Ranma. As it stood, it would be next week. She was looking forward to it now more than ever. Thinking of this, she recalled the events that led up to why she was looking forward to this.

* * *

It was back at the first day when she was out getting more books to help her. She was not liking the fact that she had been saddled with someone so ignorant to teach. However, she was not going to give up. It would tarnish her reputation for her to fail to do something she had agreed to do after all. In any case, she had actually found the materials she need much more quickly than expected and decided to take a quick detour to relax in the park before heading back to the office for her meeting with Ranma. Upon entering and finding a bench, she sat down and began too look about at the scenery. She really hoped that Ranma was actually studying, but she had no illusions for the martial artist. Ranma seemed to be one of those active types that would rather go play about than sit down and study. She was not looking forward to trying to curve such behavior. It was then that she noticed a large tree that had something red reclining on an outstretched limb. It was Ranma. Noire stood up in frustration that her charge had gone off to nap in a tree like this. She was walking toward Ranma to give her a piece of her mind when she got a better view. Ranma was not asleep. She was reading through the history book intently. So intently in fact, that she had not noticed Noire as she flipped another page in her book. Noire smiled at this and simply returned to her bench to enjoy the view for a little bit before heading back to the Basilicom. Ranma would later be confused as to why Noire was in so much better of a mood after that.

* * *

The following night, Noire got done with her paperwork and decided to spend some time with her sister. Since the proverbial cat was out of the bag, they sat together to watch a show that was on Noire's catch up list. The show they were watching was supposed a really good one that was very deceptive at the start. It was as she was about to start the first episode that Ranma came into the room having finished her assignments that day. She looked at the nearby open box set and groaned at the picture of the pink haired girl in a frilly outfit.

"Well, later then, have fun with that. Too girly for me," Ranma said bluntly as she turned to leave. Noire had some idea of what to expect from the show and she knew that this was a really good one. She wasn't going to let someone scoff at it and walk off.

"Hold it right there!" Noire called out called Ranma to flinch," You think I'm going to let you off after making a comment like that? You either watch this with us, or else I'll make sure your study load increases until you have no time for your training at all!"

Ranma froze for a moment as if to consider the lesser of the two evils and groaned as she found a seat on the couch with the two sisters. She continued to make comments about how humiliating this was as they watched it. Noire was about ready to let her off the hook. Then three episodes in, she saw the first character death. Ranma stopped complaining and they actually ended up watching the entire TV series that night. They still had the movies to watch, but that could wait as it was already late. Uni was sobbing at the end. Noire herself had tears in her eyes. As for Ranma, she was trying very hard to make it out of the room unseen.

"Still too girly for ya?" Noire called out to the redhead. Said goddess only shook her head without turning around. Noire smirked at this. It would actually turn into part of their daily routine as Ranma came back the following night.

* * *

Later in the week, Ranma had found an interesting show in Noire's collection and asked to watch it. Seeing as Noire had already seen it, Noire let Ranma watch it on her own time. Uni joined her out of curiosity since she had not seen that one yet. What was fun about this memory was that it led to the seen last night. Ranma had since learned more about Noire's cosplay hobby. She had been a little disappointed to find out it had been a misunderstanding. Ranma picked up on this and had gone shopping for supplies. Later that night when she and Uni were getting ready for their new daily ritual, they were greeted by a completely unexpected sight.

"R-Ranma?" Noire asked in shock.

"Who the hell do you think I am?!" Ranma declared proudly with arms crossed over her chest and a confident smile while wearing bandages over her chest, loose black pants held up by a white sash, a red cape, a blue wig, blue body paint, and a pair of awesome looking orange sunglasses. Noire blushed a little at the sight. Uni burst out laughing and then Noire joined her. Ranma continued to smile with confidence as she finally spoke up once more," Well, I thought the whole cosplaying thing sounded fun, though I'd try it."

* * *

Ranma had become a good friend in spite of the rocky start they had back when they first met. Noire was definitely looking forward to next week. As she thought about that she remembered that she needed to hurry or she would be late for the tonight's anime.

* * *

The Oracles were sat around a table in Planeptune's Basilicom. It had been the most logical meeting place as it had been the central most location. Gust was in attendance as well as she was acting on her friend's orders as advisor to RED since negotiations were involved. The first matter of business was to serve some tea and snacks and share introductions in a more relaxed environment. After introductions were out of the way, the first stage of the negotiations began as everyone took out four strips of paper. On each of these slips was placed one "Reasonable" demand form each nation. Gust was taking over this section for Eden as this was the only part of the negotiation she was allowed to handle. Next, everyone took out ten more slips and wrote down policies, deals, laws, and such that they would be willing to make. Finally, they converted the money they brought into chips and started dealing cards. Histoire was provided a stand for her hands so no one could cheat off of her. The rules were pretty much standard for the game. The only additions were that if someone ran out of money and policy slips they were allowed to make additional slips and that the money could be used to buy off up to four slips at the end of the night at fixed rates with the demanded cards holding a higher rate. They were also not allowed to bring more money in as a precaution. Now Gust could only sit in a corner and watch as they broke out some alcohol and began to play a high stakes poker game.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: If I said it were opposites day, could I- oh wait, I forgot that would cause a paradox... Nevermind! I still am poor and don't own these. Or a PS4 to play the newest game...

AN: Hey there, sorry this took a week to do, but my personal life got in the way of this one. Anyways, I would like to mention that I am still running a poll for my secondary story. Sadly, I'm not joking when I say I need the votes... It is currently tied. Also, I will be closing the poll when I post the next chapter regardless. If I still have a tie by then, I am just going to either flip a coin or roll a die. All right, I think that's every- oh, I forgot to mention something funny to you all about those fics. There's a 50% chance of a lock fic. Choose wisely! Mwahahahaha! *Thunder crash* (Note that I'm being nice about the 50%, I seriously had an option for 75% and even 100% for those stories, but shelved those since I know folks don't want that all the time. I just love messing with Ranma like that!). Anyways, have fun!

* * *

The first meeting had gone well so far. The night was drawing to a close and most of the oracles had played fairly passively tonight to test out the waters and to better understand each other. As such, only money had really moved and only a few of the slips had been exchanged. None of them had been the demand cards. It wasn't as if anything major had been demanded tonight; just a few rights that could normally be negotiated. RED had finally gotten a feel for her opponents. Chika was probably the easiest target because of her lack of a poker face if she had not adjusted her strategy to a more defensive one and relied heavily on luck as well as blustering her way through bluffs. Mina had been a little better. She was still cautious and the tells for her emotions were a harder to read however she was really good in the bluff department. Histoire was a general pain. Because she was so small she could easily shield her face while still getting to peak at everyone else. No one complained about this, however, as everyone was certain she would still be hard to read if one could see her face. On top of that, she was real good at seeing through bluffs in spite of lacking skill in that department herself. Kei, as could be expected, was a natural. She had a perfect poker face that made it near impossible to guess when she was bluffing or not. It was really hard to figure out more than that since it was clear she was holding back and being precise in how she handled the game. Also as a matter of safety, Gust had made sure all cards were shuffled back in to prevent counting. Kei only gave a tight nod while everyone else had agreed whether or not she was guilty of the indirect accusation could not be determined. No one wanted something like this to be abused considering the stakes. As for RED herself, she wasn't the best at this sort of thing and it had taken her most of the night to figure the others out. Her naturally happy disposition and disinterest in the game itself had acted as a blissful shield. Tonight's mission wasn't anything political in nature after all. She was gathering information from the side talk.

She was quite happy with what she had uncovered so far. First, Mina was not too happy coming in today as it turned out not only the twins but Blanc were not happy to find out Ranma would not be around for over a month. In fact, Mina was starting to regret RED's decision for Ranma to learn from Noire. As it turned out not only had Blanc taken her oracle aside to make clear her dissatisfaction with a very pointed discussion about why Ranma was sent elsewhere, but then pushed the entire work load off onto her so she could spend more time with her sisters. Mina has had to pull several all nighters already to keep up with the full workload of trying to run Lowee.

It was a little hard to get information from Kei, or it would been if not for the fact that Kei had wanted to address the matter of what has gone on at the Basilicom. As it turned out, RED's plan had been a success. Ranma had not only managed to trigger all of the flags needed for RED's plot, but she had done so naturally without knowing it. This news only made RED happier and caused her to play a little more recklessly and actually managing to net a nice profit from her unreadable play style. That was all well and good, but the best part was the mention of the event Noire had invited Ranma too and Uni was going to tag along for it.

Sadly, none of Ranma's relations had not gone straight to romantic from what she was hearing. So far Ranma was making it to the good friend zone. The one that actually had no harsh obstacle that prevents further growth of a relationship unlike that other one. RED shivered for a moment as she thought about that place and then raised the pot with the first demand card of the night. It was Lowee's request for the right to study the new branch of magic in Eden. This did not mean to be taught its secrets so much as to be allowed to observe it and adapt what could be learned unaided to the Lowee branch. Gust was not happy about it and had a stipulation added that whatever was learned could only be used if achievable through purely Loweean means otherwise it would be copyright infringement. Mina took notice of the card and put up chips towards it. Kei joined in a similar manner. She had been interested in training contract from Eden for Lastation's guards. After all, the better trained they were the less of them she needed on payroll and more money to use elsewhere. Histoire raised the pot with her own demand from Eden and some chips. This was a request for a promotional Nep Bull sale in Eden where they would have it on sale in Eden for half off during the week of the founding festivities. It would actually be a first time occurrence in Gamindustri if RED managed to win and keep it. It wasn't like anyone else could win it after all. The rules for the demand cards were that if someone else wins one that was not for them, the person who put it out had the option to give them the proper card or the equivalent money. If they paid out, that counted against their four. After Histoire raised, Chika had folded. RED called and Mina and Kei followed suit. When it came time to show their hands, Histoire carefully tilted her card stand back to reveal a three of a kind of jacks. RED then showed her hand to be a full house to which the other two sighed and set their hands face down.

The game ended later that night and everyone turned in to settle in the morning. The following morning, Histoire didn't even buy the card back and smiled as she told the confused RED," No need, it's my gift to Eden."

The meeting had been a great success for all involved. Now RED just had to go back to Lowee and prepare her next phase.

* * *

Ranma was sitting in her room at Lastation's Basilicom and was getting started on her fun project for the upcoming event after finishing her studies for the day. She had a half an hour before the next anime session started. Tonight what the last night to get it done and she had been held up on working on it since she had been working with Uni for her own preparations for the convention Noire invited them too. As Ranma worked, she thought about some things. It had actually been quite a shock how quickly Noire had changed from being on bad terms with to being a friend and Uni too for that matter. She still had no idea why Noire was so much happier at noon on the first day of studies. Ranma also remembered the anime incident that had cemented the three of them as friends. Ranma still regretted her words about that tragic series. Now that Ranma thought about it, anime had been what brought Uni to being on better terms since they didn't hang out besides to watch that stuff at first. Ranma still did not do much with her, but whenever she and Uni met during their free time, they had some fun talks about series and games. While Ranma had yet to sit down and play any of these, she had been told that it was important to learn about them as they were a part of knowing about your people. As it turned out, it was quite important for a goddess to know about current trends and to have some modern hobbies. When Uni found out yesterday that Ranma still lacked game knowledge yesterday while they were working together to prepare for the convention, she offered to help fix that when they got back. All in all, Ranma was finding things to be enjoyable as of late.

As she thought about this though, she paused for a moment to think about the others back at Lowee. She missed playing with the twins. She also was curious how Blanc and Gust were doing. Thinking back, the most enjoyable fight she had since arriving in Gamindustri had been against her. She lamented the fact that the fight had ended the way it did. She wondered how they had even managed to get along as they did now. She had an even worse first meeting with Ranma than Noire or even the folks back home. She was never good at making first impressions as she somehow always managed to ruin it. Ranma started back up with her work as she thought about this. So far she has already made friends with over half the goddesses and managed to do so in spite of how things had started with them. She had to wonder for a moment if this was what normal people were supposed to be like according to Mina or if the goddesses were just that kind. Ranma decided it had to be the latter as they were all goddesses after all.

Ranma finally finished her little project in short order after this. It had taken a little longer than it should have, but there had been a lot on her mind. As she put everything away, she thought about her newest hobby. This cosplay thing had sounded interesting at first and Ranma liked the idea of it. The main reason was that she could get away with acting as male characters without anyone giving a fuss about her gender. It felt good to at least have something to connect herself to her manhood without causing a problem for her public image that could endanger her shares. Especially since Noire had made an effort to get Ranma to wear proper underwear including a bra. Ranma sighed at that memory and lesson. It had been less of a fight and more of an annoyed Ranma resigning herself to the humility for the time being. It didn't matter if it was more comfortable. She was a guy! With this final thought, she left the room.

* * *

In a Basilicom elsewhere, a certain young looking goddess was unhappy. She had been enjoying lazing around and being pampered by her younger sister at first since she got her back from Vert, but Histoire had managed to corner her since then because of how busy the other CPUs had been. Blanc was busy taking care of things in Lowee while her Oracle tried to help establish the new Eden. Well, that's what she last heard and she doubted she was going to hear anything else for a while. There was no way Neptune was risking a visit to Vert's place right now as that was just asking for trouble since she was probably still sore over what is being called "The Sister War". Eden was still not ready and the Basilicom was not in use yet as they were still trying to fix something about. Neptune didn't really get the details. Though, she has been interested in the festival that was coming up for Eden had gotten an invitation to watch the tournament like the rest of the goddesses. The problem for her however was that the goddess of Eden had managed to eliminate her favorite escape route as she had quickly found out that Ranma was now in Lastation and that made Noire too busy. However, this would not stop Neptune. She had a hunch on how to have a break and was already putting her escape plan together. Histy was not going to corner her for more paperwork.

* * *

It was a major convention in Gamindustri that ran twice a year. The event was held in Planeptune thanks to its more centralized location. Just about everything was there. It had cosplaying, tournaments, all sort of special events and much more. Noire was on cloud nine as she walked around the main hall of one of the buildings being used for the convention. She was here and for the first time with a friend and her sister. Though no one could possibly tell they were goddesses right now. As far as anyone could tell, they were three Eden style swordswomen. Noire had chosen the theme because of all the hype that Eden's return was causing. Noire had decided to go as the strong samurai from that dog series that also had the pink princess she was cosplaying as when when she got caught by Ranma and Uni. She was wearing a brown wig with long hair in a braid along with dog ears and a tail with a strangely white and purple be of Leanbox's formal attire for men with Lowee touches while replacing the pants for a short skirt and wearing samurai armguards with a sheathed katana at her waist. She was not tall enough to wear the over sized one that Ranma called an odachi and she left the other oversized sword off since it would interfere with the group theme.

Uni had picked an interesting character from one of her games. She was wearing a dark blue wig adorned with a golden moon shaped accessory and wearing an Eden priestess outfit with detached sleeves and extremely baggy looking pants with a single katana belted to her waist. According to Uni she actually wields twin swords but all her artwork showed the one. It looked pretty good and Noire had a feeling Ranma probably helped. Uni was even acting shy and timid- oh wait, that isn't an act! She's not wearing her pads and she's very sensitive about that…

Ranma had obviously been looking through her classics library with Uni for her choice. Noire wasn't sure if Ranma was wearing a wig or not, but she had to be because her hair was longer than normal and tied back in a ponytail. She had a cross shaped scar on her left cheek and purple contacts. She wore soft red men's kimono tied just right to expose a little cleavage with a sheathed katana hanging in her white sash from her waist. Ranma was still picking male characters and enjoying it.

They hanged out together for a little while having fun as their characters and posing for pictures. Though, they had a few close calls with some cat cosplay until Noire managed to remind Ranma that they were likely fake even if they moved very realistically. It only helped a little, but it at least gave Ranma the time to either look elsewhere or close her eyes and relax while one of the others handled it for her. After doing this for a little while, Ranma decided to go look around the convention. This left the two sisters alone for a bit.

"So Uni, you holding up ok?" Noire asked her sister as they sat down on some chairs off to the side. While cosplaying can be fun, the costumes can be a bit stifling. It was very much so in Noire's case. Her younger sister blushed a little and nodded to her sister.

"I-I'm fine, just a little overwhelmed and well," she answered before breaking off to look down at herself and blushing even more deeply.

"I still can't believe Ranma convinced you to go like that," Noire commented offhandedly while trying to dance around the sensitive topic.

"She didn't… I found out this morning when getting dressed. She had made the costume too well and I couldn't fit them in…" Uni trailed off as she tried to look away only to be reminded they were in public and talking about-

"Calm down down Uni!" Noire ordered as she pulled her little sister into a hug and patted her head," I'm sure this was just an accident. Plus, with these outfits on, no one will know it's us!"

"Oh, there you are Noire! I knew you'd be here!" called out the happy harbinger of doom for this occasion. Both sisters froze up and very woodenly turned to see HER," Oh and you brought Uni here too? Wow! Good thing I brought Nep Jr. along right!"

There stood Neptune and Nepgear in their usual clothes out in public at the event. A very happy Neptune and a very shocked stiff Nepgear. At first Nepgear was looking at Noire in shock because of the fact she and her sister were cosplaying. Then she turned her gaze to her friend.

"Hey, why's everyone so quiet! This is a fun place to party!" Neptune declared. It was then that the others finally broke out of their stupor. Uni was the first as she broke into tears of mortification and tried to flee. Then Nepgear chasing after her friend and calling her name to which Uni began denying her identity quite forcefully. Finally, it was Noire's turn.

"Damn it Neptune!" Noire shrieked as the nearby convention goers began to quiet down and watch in realization of what was happening. The goddesses were here at the event. They were gawking in awe. Well, those that weren't already taking pictures or recording it all that is.

* * *

While this was happening, Ranma had just left the group and the first place she had decided to check out was an expo for new upcoming games and hardware. She had heard from Noire about the release of a new game that involved some form of VR equipment from a company called Argus. According to Noire, this meant a game where you can act and move freely as if it was the real world. Ranma thought it sounded interesting and wanted to give it a try. It was as she neared the room where the demonstration was being held that she ran into someone she knew. Someone she honestly did not want to see after the mess she had caused.

"Oh, why if it isn't Ranma!" called out Vert wearing a deep red wig, or had she colored her hair, and wearing what looked like some weird school uniform with a white, button down, long sleeved shirt, a black shoulder cape and button down corset and a red skirt.

"What do ya want?" Ranma asked in an annoyed tone," I'll warn you now that I'm still not happy about that mess you caused," Vert sighed at this and shook her head sadly in self reproach.

"I am truly regretful for that Ranma. In fact I have been meaning to talk to you about it for a while," Vert answered.

"Why didn't you do that back at the conference?" Ranma demanded in suspicion.

"The truth is, I was still not sure how to feel back then. It was actually RED who convinced me to have this talk."

"Is that why you're here," Ranma asked with narrowed eyes. She had to wander how RED even knew she would be here. Vert seemed a little flustered for only a second before she began to actually giggle.

"I meant she helped me to sort out how I felt, not mastermind this whole situation. Though I will admit she has her heart in the right place and some very interesting insight, she would need help pulling something like this off," Vert answered with quite a bit of mirth.

"Fine, so what is this about? It better not be a proposal, I'm already in over my head back home with marriage and I don't need anymore of that here," Ranma said the last very pointedly. Vert shook off her humor and took on a far more serious tone.

"I wanted to apologize for what happened before and maybe see about starting over?" She asked the red haired swordsman.

"I dunno, as I recall you did more than just kidnap a bunch of people, brainwash them, and start a fight with me…" Ranma trailed off to see if Vert would catch on. Vert seemed a little confused at this and tried to think back on what it could possibly have been. Ranma sighed before answering," I saw the pictures you took and I can't say I'm too pleased about that."

Vert froze on the spot. She did have those collections on her computer," H-how do you know about that!?"

"Blanc told me about the copy of them that were sent to her when I was being set up by Chika," Ranma deadpanned. Vert didn't reply as she stood there trying to understand what that had to have been about. It looked like she and her oracle were going to have a talk later whenever her business in Lowee was over. Meanwhile Ranma thought for a bit and decided to make a deal," Tell ya what, I'll forgive you if you promise to get rid of those pictures and every copy of them you have and I'll forgive you."

Vert froze for a full minute. She really liked those pictures. Both of Ranma's forms were cute and she loved them. Not only that, but those pictures were the only ones of Ranma's male form in all of Gamindustri. If she got rid of them, she may very well never see that handsome young man again. Finally, Vert sighed and nodded her agreement;" Very well, I promise that it will be done."

With that, Ranma smiled and dragged the goddess with her into the room. As it turned out, the VR headset was a new piece of equipment being released for the upcoming expansion/remake of the classic MMO "Four Goddesses Online. The project had originally been meant to be a simple expansion and title change. Apparently someone got with them a couple weeks back and talked them into this all new project and a partnership that led to the inclusion of the new hardware. Apparently the creator of the hardware has left the company after they chose to do the sequel of an already popular series instead of his game. Because this was all done on short notice, the demonstration did not have a playable demo for the convention goers. However, it did lead to Ranma agreeing to try out the sequel, "Five Goddesses Online", with Vert. As they left the demonstration, they found a completely unexpected mess.

* * *

Nisa had taken a break from her job over in Eden. The reason was that she had another job she had agreed to a couple months back. So here she was as a member of the security detail at the biggest convention in Planeptune. She had been enjoying all the sights around her as she continued to make sure things were orderly and that no one had snuck in without paying. She was very diligent about her job. She was also dressed in white, plastic armor with a helmet like the rest of the security. It was one of the only things she did not like about the job. The security detail either wore their uniform or one of these outfits. Since Nisa was not an actual officer, she had to wear the costume. She was not happy about this. Why were the ones ensuring justice at the convention forced to wear the armor of foot soldiers from an evil, galactic empire? She would have preferred a sentai outfit instead. She sighed as she checked another badge. She was looking forward to her shift ending and her being able to take the dreaded armor off.

It was then that a suspicious character went running past her. Nisa then gave chase to the culprit while yelling out," Halt!"

She couldn't help but think the figure looked familiar. It was a few seconds later that she recalled the purple hair as being Nepgear's. However, there are a number of people who cosplay as the goddesses at these events. The girl seemed to notice her and redoubled her efforts and tried to lose her by turning a corner. Nisa gave chase. She almost lost her, but the girl had given herself away by making a scene and chasing another cosplayer. The chase was on!

* * *

Blanc and the twins were enjoying themselves at the convention as well. Since Mina had leaked that Ranma was going to be here, Blanc decided to go on a trip to the convention with the twins. She had not told them why they had come here and hinted at there being a surprise. They had yet to run into Ranma much to Blanc's disappointment, but Rom and Ram were enjoying all the sights around them. Blanc had even gotten them ice cream cones. She was just about to hand them to her sisters when someone rushed by and shoved her out of the way. Now Blanc may be strong, but that doesn't change her weight or mean much if she's taken off guard. She fell forward and ended up getting the ice cream all over the twins. Blanc was absolutely pissed as she looked around and saw the fleeting purple hair of what she hoped was a cosplayer. Sadly, priorities came first and that was to deal with the now crying twins," Come on, let's get you two washed up," she said in a comforting voice before her expression grew dark and her tone changed," Then we can hunt down the bitch as a family!"

The twins sniffed and nodded to this as they followed their big sister into the restroom. Five minutes later, they came out to find the culprit chasing someone else while being chased by security. Blanc immediately summoned her hammer to the shock of the surrounding crowd that was now giving her and the twins a wide birth she began to charge after the purple haired bitch that had caused this mess. The twins followed her and soon they found even more security on their heels as the chase was on.

* * *

Ranma and Vert stared in awe at the procession. Neither one of them could believe what they were seeing. Ranma then began to try and help out with the mess when she tripped over someone. They both fell down and become entangled. Ranma's awareness started to boot up once again after the unexpected obstacle. She found herself staring straight into her unintended victim's eyes and could feel that her wig had fallen off as well as a wardrobe malfunction in which the victim had managed to get a hand caught up in. As Ranma blushed at this, she noticed something else. They were currently lip locked. The crowd, around her, gasped in shock. Complete silence suddenly filled the room as she pulled her face away to get a better view of her victim. It was a now beet red Neptune who still had not removed her hand from Ranma's kimono. Ranma very carefully pulled the kimono back together while removing the CPU's hand and helped the catatonic girl up. That was when she noticed just how complete the silence was.

* * *

Uni was completely humiliated and running for all her worth trying to lose the pursuing Nepgear. She had not wanted anyone she knew other than Noire and Ranma to see her in these clothes. Tears were streaming as she vehemently denied her name every time her friend called out to her. To be found like this on the first time she had ever done something like this by Nepgear of all people had been too much. As they ran, she suddenly heard more fast falling footsteps behind them and cries to halt. _Oh great! Now security is after us! I can_ _'_ _t let this become public knowledge!_ She tried to redouble her efforts only to find that no matter what she did Nepgear and the security guard would determinedly pursue her. Then she heard the familiar stomping and angry yells of Blanc backed up by the twins cheering their sister on. She could not help but wonder what could make this madness worse when she saw Ranma tackle someone out of the corner of her eye and came rushing to see what the hell was going on with all of the gasps. The sight caused her to stop and stare in shock along with all of the others.

* * *

Elsewhere in the crowd, Linda was in her Nepgeo getup. When she had gotten back to Planeptune, the damn rat wouldn't let her hear the end of it. It had been quite frustrating to listen to him as she went about trying to make money any way she could. In the end, she finally settled on a job in that island resort over by Leanbox. The rat was going to have to make due on his own and she couldn't help but feel good knowing she would soon not have to hear him complaining anymore. He can go find his own job for all she cared at this point. However, she decided she would wait on moving to the island she would be working at. She wanted to attend the convention since it would be the first one in three years since Planeptune couldn't hold it and refused ASIC's _kind_ offer to help run it. Sadly, she did not have the money for it. However, something so trivial has never stopped her before. So she forced her way in. The dumbass security guard even ended up chasing the wrong person. She couldn't help but smirk as she ran the other way. That was when she accidently ran literally into the CPU of Lowee. Not wanting to die after she saw the mess she caused, Linda fled that scene as well. She eventually ended up where she was now with a front row seat to the bastardly bitch of Eden's accident. She managed to take a picture on her cell phone and was already making a ruckus on the internet as she slipped away. That'll teach her!


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: *insert tired old gag* (too stunned with poll results and annoyed at FFdotNet for being down earlier to come up with one)

AN: So yeah, I am stunned with the results of the poll. Seriously! If I didn't know I put it on blind, I'd say you guys were trolling me! Why you might ask? Well in case the closed poll thing isn't working right, I'll tell you. You had 4 options and yet I have a 3-way tie! WHAT. THE. HELL!? Ok now that that's out of the way, let's talk about what I'm going to have to do about this now. First, I will be turning the odd one out into a decent sized one-shot and making it a rule for any future polls that the lowest one on the totem pole gets one-shot'd (unless it has a decent comparative backing). Next, I'm going to take little a break from this fic to settle the score between these three titans. How, You might ask? Well, I am going to be typing up the first chapter of each and holding onto them until all three are done for a simultaneous release. The one with the most favorites by the next HDR chapter after that wins. On a side note about the lock statement last chapter. If you guys voted danmachi because you thought it was safe, be warned I said I could have made the chance 100%. I love ironic titles. Also, those were all on the spot place holder titles. I will not reveal at this time which ones were the ones to look out for. Also, before I get any accusations about influencing the vote. I honestly forgot what I used for danmachi's title. I did not notice this until it was too late. That is why the next phase is being implemented. Also, the votes were tied up prior to this...

* * *

After Noire had finished yelling at Neptune for the mess she had caused, Neptune helped her in trying to find them. They were having no luck and Noire was giving her the cold shoulder. Neptune really had hoped to just have a little fun. She had originally meant to go alone, but Nep Jr. had caught her trying to make an escape. Her sister actually helped her and joined rather forcefully. She couldn't say no to little sister at the time. Not when it meant getting caught by Histy. Plus, it was only supposed to be Noire. How was she supposed to know she had actually come out of the closet to Uni- er, not that closet! Bad Nep, that closet is meant for Neptune alone to tease out of her best friend! If it exists, that is… Plus that would be totally wrong to anyone but Vert. _Oh, speaking of which, isn_ _'_ _t that her over there with Ranma. Hmm, this looks like something juicy! I better go get the drop on them._

As Neptune left Noire's side and made her way stealthily to the unsuspecting couple that seemed to somehow be on better terms, Neptune was lost in her head again. _Wow Ranma is daring. She_ _'_ _s been making moves on Blanc and is now working on Vert! She really is a martial arts harem master! Maybe she could teach me some of her harem-_ _fu;_ _I could really use it to help improve my status as the protagonist of protagonists! After all, what kind of protagonist doesn_ _'_ _t have mad harem building skills?_ It was at this point that she noticed their awed look. For a second Neptune thought just maybe they had caught her and were awed by her mad stealth skills, but then she realized that wouldn't be right because if they were mad stealth skills she wouldn't be caught. It was then she noticed Blanc's screams of rage and saw the procession. Neptune decided to abandon her moment of stealthy glory for the much higher priority of fixing things with Noire. That was when IT happened. IT was the most embarrassing moment of her life. Even as she found herself pressed helplessly beneath the powerful master working her harem-fu on her, Neptune had found herself in a dazed state. Ranma's lips were soft and their touch pleasant. Then there was the feeling in Neptune's right hand. Her brain shut down then.

Her brain rebooted once more as it registered that she was no longer kissing and feeling up the newest goddess of Gamindustri. Now her brain was able to fully process what had happened. She had just lost her first kiss. Not only that, but it had been taken. Worse, it had not been taken by someone she had those kind of feelings for. The final blow, every single goddess was present and accounted for. Once Ranma had helped her fully up, Neptune did the one thing no one who knew her would expect. She started crying and made a mad dash away from the scene.

* * *

Nepgear fled the scene to chase after her sister. The others were just silent as Ranma stood in their midst visibly shaking in fear. She knew that fleeing form well. She had had in fact done much the same some time ago. That was the flight of someone who had their first kiss stolen. That was also the prelude of Ranma's impending doom. Neptune was going to collect herself any moment and come dashing back here in fully righteous feminine fury. Once that happened it would be a signal for the others. It would be Ranma against every single goddess of Gamindustri. The worse was she had been doing so well lately and had managed to avoid setting something like this. Ranma stood there waiting for the end of her life with grim faced determination.

* * *

Blanc had completely forgotten her anger over the ice cream when she came upon the scene of Ranma and Neptune. She honestly had mixed feelings at first. She didn't know what they were exactly, but they hurt all the same. It didn't help that Neptune had fled the scene like that. It did, however, shock her enough to buy her brain some time to think as she looked to Ranma after Neptune was out of sight.

* * *

Noire had scene the whole thing unfold. She had seen her friend closing in on Ranma and watched the accident unfold. Even knowing that it was an accident did not changed the fact she felt sad. The worse part was that she felt betrayed in some way, but she couldn't tell who it was she felt had betrayed her. She knew it was an accident, but the sight of two close friends like that had caused her pain. She stood there unable to move as she tried to sort this out in her mind. Ultimately it proved a futile effort.

* * *

Vert could not believe what she was seeing before her. Ranma had done the unthinkable. This was something that truly was unprecedented in the history of Gamindustri. Someone had managed to plant a flag on Neptune. Vert could not believe that RED had been right about Ranma. Sure, she had to hand it to Ranma for being able to make friends with the two who had a rather bad first impression, but she had ONLY gone that far so far in spite of the flag events. RED had insisted that Ranma only needed time to build up affection points once she triggered a flag. Vert had yet to see proof of this and was not willing to believe Ranma's potential. Especially since Ranma had not tripped- then it finally struck her after all this time. Neptune was the last CPU that had not had an event. Vert's event had been her first meeting. Then she noticed something else. The looks on the remaining CPUs' faces. Noire and Blanc in particular since Ranma was still facing away from her. Ranma had built the points to cross the threshold. However, Ranma had a certain deficiency. That must be what RED meant when she got me to help her make this plan. She must want to give Ranma that missing piece to step forward. Vert held a small but gentle smile at this. She wanted more than ever to help RED's plan, but she feared the result. Ultimately, Ranma would be the one to decide the final outcome.

* * *

Blanc noticed the determined look on Ranma's now pale face. It was the look of someone facing their execution. Blanc then remembered an episode from Ranma's past. With this, she was finally able to put the unwanted feelings to rest as she stepped forward. Ranma tensed at this movement. Blanc ignored it as her hammer disappeared and she put a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"She won't be coming back, Ranma," Blanc whispered softly so that only Ranma could hear," She needs time to deal with what just happened. Now let's get you back to Lowee and away from this mess"

* * *

Noire watched as Blanc stepped forward to talk to Ranma. She couldn't make out what was being said except for the last part as she realized her feet had begun to move in reaction to what she was witnessing. It was then that it registered what was going on. Blanc was about to take Ranma away.

"Wait! Why would Ranma go with you!?" Noire demanded with a slight blush," She still hasn't finished her studies back in Lastation!"

Blanc looked to the other goddess darkly for a second as if sizing her up before responding," Ranma should come with me right now. She needs a friend, not a teacher and she has plenty of those in Lowee."

Noire's slight blush turned into a scowling one as she yelled back," Who said I wasn't her friend!? Do you honestly think I would take Ranma with me to this convention if she weren't!?"

"No," Blanc answered levelly," However, I was stating a fact. Ranma has more friends in Lowee and you just now seemed more interesting in teaching Ranma than consoling her."

* * *

Vert watched as the proceedings of the argument began. She then realized it was time to do some damage control. Ranma was not ready for an event like this if she lacked the determination to cross the line.

"Settle down you two. This behavior is most unbecoming," Vert stated as she stepped up to chasten the two and brought her assets to bear on the occasion much to Blanc's annoyance," It would be better not to argue or do you want to put undue pressure on Ranma?"

The girls stopped and looked to Ranma and found she had a fearful look on her face as she woodenly turned around to face the new addition to the conversation. The girls looked to each other and nodded which caused Ranma to relax a little. There was still signs of worry, but she was no longer as stiff as a board.

"Now, to solve this problem, I have a simple answer," Vert continued as she pointed to the white armored security personnel that had been part of the chase," I want you to go make a bunch of slips with Lastation, Lowee, and Leanbox on them. Make sure there are an equal number of each. Then comeback here with them mixed up in your helmet," The guard nodded and went to do just that.

"Why are you in the running?" Blanc asked while doing her best to keep her temper under control.

"Why? Because I'm a friend of Ranma as well. Is it wrong for me to want some time as well?" Vert asked innocently.

"Oh that's a good one! I still recall what you did to my sister," Noire shot back.

"Calm down, I promise there are no ulterior motives involved unlike you two," Vert teased as she jiggled haughtily.

"Like hell! Listen here thundertits, I know more about Ranma than either of you! The last thing she needs is to be put through whatever shit I'm sure you have in mind!" Blanc yelled out angrily and actually beat out Noire's tsundere reflexes.

As the argument continued, the guard came back with her helmet in her hands. Noire and Blanc were shocked when they saw who the guard was. They were just about to accuse Vert of a set up until they saw that it was Nisa. Her reputation was well known to both of them. She wouldn't allow cheating. However, Noire decided on making a last ditch effort to ensure there was no underhanded actions by Vert," Okay Ranma, go ahead and grab a slip without looking."

"Oh, I was about to say the same thing," Vert commented cheerfully to the shock of Blanc and Noire. They were used to Vert trying something in these situations. This was a bit unexpected. Ranma nodded as she closed her eyes and reached in.

* * *

Neptune lied in her bed hugging her pillow as she tossed about. Her face was still red as she sniffled. She normally would have laughed it all off by now or at least tried to crack a joke, but she couldn't bring herself to do so just yet. She had something important she had been saving for someone else taken in broad daylight. Now that she thought about it, this must be like what all those other heroines in the manga and games felt. The problem was that she wasn't the first that Ranma had done this to. Admittedly Ranma was crazy at the time she did this to Blanc. Maybe Ranma didn't do this on purpose? No way! A martial artist can't be that bad at dealing with accidents like that. Then again, Neptune was the one who managed to get her hand- She had to cut the thought off as it brought back that memory and made her face red. This was all wrong. She was supposed to be the lead in her relations and tease her partner into confessing. Like- _No, that is not actually canon! Come on Mr. Author, you got me acting like an idiot. I_ _may like to fool around and especially like teasing Noire when she goes all tsundere, but that does not mean we'_ _re_ \- the universe cut this thought off with a sigh at this fourth wall breaking level of denial. _Hey! Don_ _'_ _t you-_ The fourth wall is fixed and once again all is right in the universe. Neptune was no longer in as bad of a state and began to actually think. Well, think as best as a she normally can that is. She eventually came to a decision on the whole matter and put it all behind her for now. It wasn't like there was an immediate issue to deal with or anything.

After collecting herself, cleaning up, and changing into some new clothes, Neptune left the room to find a worried _little_ sister standing outside her door.

"A-are you feeling better now?" Nepgear asked, her voice cracking in worry. Neptune looked to her and smiled.

"Buck up kiddo! Everything is okey-dokey! All I need is a nice bowl of pudding and a game-a-thon and this'll all be behind me!" Neptune declared happily. Everything was looking on the up and up

"Neptune, we got some trouble!" Called out Iffy as she came rushing onto the scene with Compa.

"Hi Neppy and Ge-Ge!" Compa added as she and Iffy got closer. Then her face got serious," Neppy, you should really learn that there are places to do that sort of thing."

It was then that another voice joined the conversation from the other side of the hall," Neptuuuune! How could you do this! I take my eye off of you for one minute and you manage to cause this much trouble!"

Histy was not happy. That was clear. In fact, one could say that was a huge understatement.

"Oh-uh hi guys, what's going on?" Neptune asked in utter confusion. Sure, Histy being mad was normal when she made an escape. Iffy showing up saying there was trouble was also normal. Compa talking seriously about something nonsensical can also be normal. Put the three together out of the blue and you got one confused Neptune.

"Neppy, you shouldn't do that stuff in public. Children could have seen that!" Compa continued seriously as she scolded Neptune.

"Now Compa, remember, she was on the bottom, so I don't think-" Iffy tried to defend Neptune as she blushed. Compa stopped to consider this with a thoughtful tilt to her head.

"Then we need to find Ranma to talk about public decency! Why are we even here!?" Compa declared before dragging a protesting Iffy away. The other three just stared for a moment before Histy cleared her throat to get the goddess' attention.

"Now that that is over, would either of you to mind explaining THIS to me?" Histy demanded as she presented a printout that Neptune only now noticed her oracle had been carrying. It was a picture of what had happened at the convention. Neptune's recently regained persona faltered before she turned around and slammed the door behind her while screaming she wasn't going to with it now and hopefully never!

* * *

RED was currently in an emergency conference with Gust, Mina, and Chika. She had been one to call it after justice wifey had made a discreet call. The fact was that RED had a feeling something was going to happen with wifey Red Heart and she was planning on sending someone in to keep an eye on things. That was when she found Nisa asking for some time to handle a job she had agreed to months ago as a security guard in the convention. She decided to take advantage of this as it provided a better cover for what she wanted. She needed someone that would be in the security loop as she was certain that whatever happened was going to be big. Fore warned was fore armed, or something like that was what Mina had said. As it turned out, she was right. Not only that, but Nisa had actually managed to get involved. The sheer luck involved in this mess had been a miracle. The situation was dire to her plans. Her wifey goddess had managed to do too well at progressing and she had triggered the last event too early. Worse, she had done a better job than previously expected at getting the points. If Nisa had not been involved, this situation would not have been salvageable.

"We have a disaster on our hands," RED declared as she tossed out printouts of the picture and the flame war currently burning on the net for the others to look at," I'm afraid I am going to have to move the timetable up. As of today, the Eden Basilicom will be brought to full operations since Eden is now tied into the rest of Gamindustri's communications network."

The others looked at the printouts in shock. Someone with malicious intent had obvious been present and had uploaded the most inopportune picture while declaring a number of inappropriate things. Things that were better left unsaid. However, Mina was startled be RED's declaration," But why? That was not supposed to happen until the week before the opening festival!"

"It has to do with Ranma, or should Gust say your plans for Gust's friend?" Gust questioned with a slightly crossed look. She had not been happy with this plan for a while. She had been trusting the oracles with this matter and they had yet to interfere with any of the things RED has done. That is the things they knew about. RED seemed to have an unknown agenda. It was clearly there, but no one knew what the goal was. Sure Gust had gone along with the exemption law in the end, but she only agreed because she knew that Mina had known about it and had not done anything. When she asked about it later, she found out the truth of the matter regarding that law. Since then, RED had managed to put a number of other arbitrary things. Like the oracle poker night which had turned out to be a success. Ultimately, no one was clear on RED's plan. Sure she seemed like a rather happy go lucky person, but she had somehow managed to mystify everyone else. Though if given a guess, Gust would probably think the reason was simple. The oracle of Eden was handling things in a whimsical manner. Do this to get that and have fun with wifeys. Use this for that and surely something will happen. RED wasn't a master manipulator. She was a galge fanatic! Gust was certain of this. However, she was also certain she had been receiving some help as there was a certain level of planning that was involved in the whole mess. She had already figured that Vert was involved. How else do you explain the recent interest in an MMORPG from a person who was mostly interested in galge? She had found out about Vert's gaming too easily by overhearing conversations between Chika and Vert. The problem now was that this situation seemed a little off.

"Well, this is for her own good!" RED declared cheerfully," As things stand, it would be bad for her to stay in another nation."

"Why is that? I'm sure we can help out here in Lowee," Mina interjected. RED sighed.

"That's part of the problem," RED said less cheerfully," she managed to become friends with Lastation as well. Not only that, but Wifey Green seems to be in the running too now."

"What!?" Chika demanded angrily," How is my lady involved in this!?"

"She went to the convention to see an exhibit for a new game and met wifey Red Heart there," RED answered nonchalantly," they are friends now too."

Chika did not like hearing this. While she was fine with her goddess making friends, she was not fine with her starting relations of any sort with those she had more than a friendly interest in. She was gnashing her teeth. Mina seemed a little confused at this," How does where Ranma stay affect the matter?"

"Simple," RED said cheerfully once more while ignoring Chika," They all want her to stay with them. But it would be bad if a fight broke out."

That was when it dawned on Mina. The situation had a bad potential to become a repeat of Ranma's past only over something like friendship. Ranma would need the space.

* * *

"What!?" The three expectant goddesses said in shock as Ranma held a slip with Eden written clearly on it. Nisa couldn't help but smile at her friend's thankful expression. Vert looked to Nisa and demanded," What is the meaning of this?"

"Well, Ranma is the goddess of Eden and all. It would only be FAIR that Eden is an option," Nisa replied. _Plus, I did do as you asked._ She thought to herself. She had put two of each of the three nations mentioned in the helmet. Two since Vert demanded in plural. However, it was not mentioned she couldn't just fold them up and hide them behind a pad in the helmet. Nor was anything mentioned about Eden. Also, no one needed to know that all twelve of the folded papers that had been visible in the helmet had Eden written on them. Orders were orders after all," Ranma just needs some time alone."

* * *

Ranma was now back in Eden once more. She had been thankful that the others wanted to help her after that accident. The problem had been that they were starting to act like the fiancés back home. It was too bad she had to leave the convention, but with everything that had happened, it would have only caused more problems. Ranma still felt bad for what had happened with Neptune. She didn't seem to take it too well. Ranma recalled some of the wisecracks she had made before like with what happened with Blanc. She seemed like the kind of person who would have been able to take something like this in stride. Ranma could only shrug at how weird the girl could be at times. At the very least, they were able to get things under control. Hard to keep rumors like that going when you have a united front from all of the other goddesses to act as a witness for the official story.

As Ranma thought about this, she made her way up a mountain following the traces of what remained of a path. It would take some time before these traces vanished. Even with it all being dug up and filled in, it took time for plants to grow over the freshly dug dirt. Finally, the wall came into view with a full guard detail to ensure no one dared to enter the area. There was also plans to install surveillance equipment, but those plans were scrapped not long after when it was found that this area was interfering with electronics. As such, the guards were required until the magicians of Eden could manage to put some decent wards up. The guards moved to block her approach when they first saw her, but they backed off upon realizing who she was.

Ranma was interested to note that these guards were member of the Eden defense force. They white silk clothes reminiscent of Ranma's usual style. Over this, they wore modified Chinese mountain scale armor. The lacked the mid rift protection in favor of giving the wearer more flexibility. They were other such modifications that had been mad for the same purpose. While forgoing the middle, it still had the skirt like guard that also had a red leather skirt that went a little past the guard. Also, it lacked the front and back parts of the skirt guard, only leaving the sides and the skirt. It also had the shoulder guards. However, it lacked the rest of the armor. The arms and legs were protected by highly articulated lamellar guards. There were no guards for the hands or feet. The scaling was gold while the details like the studs were red and white. On each shoulder was also a red and white yin yang. Finally instead of a helmet, they wore red plumed tiaras. On top of all this, Ranma was certain the armor had to be far lighter than it looked. According to Falcom, the armor wasn't new, but a leftover found in storage at the Basilicom. As strange as it was, it looked good on them. Though Ranma did happen to notice that somehow all the guards she had seen so far were women. She'll have to ask Nisa, who was now in charge of the Defense forces, about it later.

Ranma had still yet to get around to surfing the net or watching live TV. In truth, she only knew the bare basics of how to operate a computer and had only watched stuff with Noire and Uni in Lastation. Since Noire was still playing catch up, Ranma never actually saw what her oracle had done with the advertising.

After a nod to the guards, they opened the gate and she walked through to the lands where she could do some serious training and learn some new tricks.

* * *

Noire, Vert, and Blanc were all currently in Planeptune's Basilicom to visit Neptune. The candidates were currently off playing together. Nepgear had been relieved when she saw them come in to visit the day after the incident. As to why had come after the conference to settle the matter, the CPUs had realized that they had been a bit too attached to Ranma as of late. It was actually Vert who pointed this out when Noire asked why the purple blob had to show up. They soon realized that Neptune had been cooped up in her basilicom for a while now with no one but her sister. She had probably been lonely.

Once they got to Neptune's room, they found an unexpected sight. She was as nonplussed as ever and playing on a handheld like no tomorrow. There was no sign at all that she had run away crying the previous day.

"N-Neptune!?" Noire yelled in a shocked voice. Blanc just sighed and Vert smiled at the scene as it unfolded. Neptune turned around in surprise and gave one of her goofy smile.

"Hey guys!" She yelled before tackle glomping an unprepared Noire. This bit had not been expected at all and caused Noire to fall back into Vert who was then losing balance and ended up trying to use Blanc for support. In a matter of seconds, the four CPUs were collapsed in a tangle of limbs. Fortunately nothing to compromising had happened this time. Neptune didn't care however as she had her friends. After a few minutes and some protests by Noire, everyone was able to get back up and dust themselves off.

"Really, Neptune! You can be such a pain!" Noire stated as she scowled and looked away to hide a blush. Vert just chuckled in her usual superior manner while Blanc just smirked knowingly at the scene. Everyone here were friends. They hanged around until evening before departing to their respective nations with their sisters in tow. When they got home, they all received some rather bad news.

* * *

RED was currently humming to herself as she considered the current situation while going through some paperwork with Gust. She knew it had been a bit extreme, but she needed to make sure that her goddess had some time alone. Wifey Red Heart was no where near being ready for the kind of plot advancement that had almost occurred. As it stood, she had to put out a notice to the other oracles that all other CPUs were barred entry from Eden at this time until the re-founding festival. Not that she could take action to back this declaration up, but it was a very pointed way of saying leave Ranma alone for now. She never was one for planning her actions out fully. Anytime she played her games, she depended solely on luck and a certain instinct to get her through. She never could make a decent and detailed plan, but she had a rather interesting instinct that always told her when something would lead to a bad end. That instinct had been on fire when Nisa made that call. Now if only she could deal with the fact it was still itching. Ever since she set out on this goal of hers to see everyone happy, her instinct had itched like this. She knew why. To get what she felt best for everyone, she had to take a chance. A gamble was coming and all she could do was give Ranma some time and events by raising the pot before she was forced to call.

* * *

Neptune was feeling much better Now that she had got to spend some time with her friends and the whole mess with Ranma was behind her for now. She didn't know what to think about that mess anymore. She still had not sorted her feelings on the matter and had just tossed it away for another day. Possibly in a few centuries. She had to admit that she was a little relieved that Ranma was in Eden right now and none of the CPUs were allowed over for the time being. Not that she knew why she was relieved. Maybe it was the fact that she might have been forced to talk to her otherwise? Neptune sighed at that thought. It would be best to avoid Ranma. Maybe even throw herself into actually working during the festival so as to- Nah! There's no way she could focus for that long.

It was during these thoughts that an arrow came flying through her window and embedding itself in the wall next to her.

"What the Nep!?" Neptune screeched in surprise as she looked to the now shattered temper glass window and then at the arrow once more. There was a roll of paper tightly bound to the projectile. After a little bit of effort, Neptune finally liberated the parchment. It was a letter. One that made up her mind. She would be attending the festival after all. As she decided this, she went HDD and floated carefully to the balcony to look up at the stars with a warm smile.


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: series still not mine, but I won't deny I have fun scre- I mean playing with these characters *Ranma glares at the fourth wall* crap...

AN: Well, sorry for all the delays on this chapter. It was a lot of trouble to deal with writing all of those other stories and get back to this in a timely manner. Sadly, it took even longer due to some things that went down in my life over the past week. Now... I can't help but feel I am forgetting something in this set of notes and am going to be- Ooooh, right, THAT! Well, please forgive me for some of the screw ups involved in this mess. One of the other painful things involved in this mess was the research that I most likely botched somehow. Yeah, please forgive me and consider any screw up a "cultural" thing for the series as I tend to miss something fairly important a lot of the time when I'm trying to rush research. Also forgive me if I screwed up certain descriptions. Well, have fun!

* * *

The streets of Eden were pact with people in yukatas making their way to the festival grounds. Blanc, Rom, and Ram were in HDD high above as they made their way to the festival as well. The city looked as unique as the other capitals. It had three different styles of architecture each in their own zone. Blanc also noted among them that there were a number of hot spring resorts. It was still one hour before the opening ceremony at noon, but they need to get there before then. RED had insisted that all of the goddesses attending show up early at the Basilicom. Soon they landed in front of the front gate and began walking in while releasing their HDD. Blanc remembered the warning about trying to get in the wrong way. Her sisters were darting every which way about her to look on at the sight of the endless sakura trees. Blanc had to smile at this. It was a very beautiful and relaxing sight. They always seemed to be in bloom and the illusory petals would often times be caught by the wind or simply fall only to disperse harmlessly upon contact.

"Wow, it's so pretty Rom!" Ram squealed giddily as Rom nodded in agreement.

"It's wonderful, just like Ranma-nii," Rom said quietly. Blanc had noticed the twins were getting a bit close to Ranma. They really adored Ranma as their big "brother". The strange thing was that Blanc would normally expect to be a little hurt at this, but Ranma was just someone that once she got to really know she couldn't hold much against her. Most of her bad quirks were due to her horrible upbringing, and she had been improving on that. She had become a good person who would do a lot for the sake of others. Blanc had not only heard the stories of her past, but seen Ranma throw herself in the line of fire to protect her friends and others on several occasions. She just was someone Blanc could not hate once she knew her. There was more to it than that, but it would be best to leave well enough alone.

"My, you are looking forward to this aren't you? Did Ranma find her way into your heart? Not that it would be hard with that small bosom of yours," an all too familiar voice spoke up from behind. Blanc jumped a little before turning about to come face to now jiggling boobs with Vert. When she looked up to Vert, her face already had a darkening expression fixed upon it.

"Leave Ranma out of this and get those utters out of my face before I finally rip them off, bitch!" Blanc demanded angrily. She had yet to hit the peak of her rage, but Vert was working on that as she stepped back with yet another dreaded jiggle and opened her mouth to reply.

"Will you guys just stop it already?" Noire called out from behind them as she approached with Uni," We have a schedule to keep up and I wouldn't want to ruin Ranma's festival with something so petty."

Blanc grunted angrily before turning around and running up to rejoin her sisters. Vert smiled at the sight with more than a little envy before turning to Noire," Well this is interesting, I would have thought you two would be standing guard for Neptune and Nepgear considering that this place has this security feature."

Noire and Uni blanched at this as realization hit them and they began running back the way they came.

"Wait for me!" Uni called out to her sister. Vert just smiled once more as she continued on her merry little way to the Basilicom.

* * *

"Why in the nep would they have something like this!?" Neptune demanded as she and her sister trudged through the endless forest. They probably would have already made it out if Neptune had not been so insistent on trying to fly out. Now he she was with her sister as their usual selves trying to figure out how to get out.

"Um sister, you did check in with Histoire on the details about getting here right?" Nepgear asked worriedly.

"You know me Nep Jr. I always get the nep notes, no point sweating the small stuff after all!" Neptune declared happily. Even the current situation was not going to keep Neptune down. After all, Neptune had made a full recovery over night after that whole mess at the convention. Nepgear wasn't sure how though. Neptune may be a little happily go lucky at times, but something like that should have taken her a couple of off days with plently of pudding, games, and friends to get over based on how she was acting. Instead, she was more happy than ever. She never even once considered not coming to the festival and even worked her butt off for it when Histoire threatened to not let her go. Something was up.

Suddenly they found themselves outside the forest of beautiful pink blossoms. The standing not too far off were a worried Noire and Uni who were now running to them.

"Geez, it took you long enough, what held you up!?" Noire demanded as they met. Neptune was scratching the back of her head nervously with an odd laugh.

"Seriously, it should have only taken you a couple minutes of walking now to get out!" Uni added as she went to Nepgear to drag her away," Now come on Nepgear. My sister can take care of yours, we need to hurry!"

With that the two candidates made their way through to the proper entrance.

* * *

Noire was now alone as they walked the gates that led to the Basilicom. She honestly had felt bad that she actually forgot about Neptune for a moment. Then she recalled that Neptune getting lost in the forest was more than likely her own fault. Noire shouldn't have to be the one to bail her friend out every time she makes a screw up like this. Still, it was good to see Neptune back to her old goofy self. It was actually quite relaxing to see her dart about the falling petals around them like the twins and enjoy the blossoms around them. She had to admit, now that she was being distracted by Neptune being, well, Neptune, that the scenery was quite lovely. She could see why Ranma had only requested the travel time shortened instead of simply taking the barrier down. It was a very beautiful display. Soon they passed the tenth gate and suddenly found themselves walking out into the open where they came into view of the Basilicom. The building may have been large and she had seen it from the sky as she approached, but Noire had to admit that it almost seemed humble compared to the Basilicoms of the other CPUs. In spite of this fact, the main building still gave off a presence of faith.

"Come one Neptune, quit gawking and let's get with the others. We don't want to ruin this!" Noire scolded the still gaping Neptune after she recollected herself. They hurriedly made it into the main building and found RED and Gust standing there not wearing their usual clothes.

Gust was wearing a kid's yukata with bunny pattern. The bunnies were white and set against a light blue. The obi was orange and tied into a green bow on the back revealing it had a different color on each side. She even replaced her usual headwear with a simple carrot shaped hairpin. Gust seemed a little embarrassed and seemed a little nervous without her hat.

As for RED, she was wearing a kimono with long sleeves. The pattern on it seemed to be reminiscent of a rising red sun over a field of tiger lilies. Besides the Kimono, her hair was done up in its usual fashion with the ever present golden dragon over her shoulder. RED was completely unabashed and enjoying herself.

"Hey there! Please hurry down that way, I have Kimonos for everyone. Just be sure to use the door marked for you!" RED greeted them as she carefully avoided dragging the sleeves while getting behind them and shoving them forward," Also, these are for your HDD forms."

The next thing Noire knew, she was in a room with two attendants in the uniform of the soldiers without armor. Before she could even think, they grabbed her and went about forcibly undressing her while giving instructions. Her protests went unheard as she soon found herself transformed and in a kimono much to her irritation and being rushed back out of the room to a gathering room where she came across the others. All of the CPUs were red in the face from the same experience she had gone through.

Noire found herself wearing in a mostly black kimono with a floral pattern purple orchids. Her obi was a deep blue. She still had her white hair had been pulled back into a ponytail and a hairpin in the shape of a purple orchid had been added.

Vert was wearing a mostly green kimono in a shade close to the color of Green Heart's hair. The lower half sported a floral design with lavender hydrangeas. The obi was a light yellow. Her hair was in its normal style, but she had a hairpin matching the pattern of the kimono. She was smiling but her flustered face seemed the most red of those present for once.

Blanc wore a pale blue kimono. Unlike Vert's and Noire's, hers had a pattern of white lilac that not only covered the bottom but went over the her left shoulder and arm. She also wore a light pink obi. Unlike Vert and Noire as well, her hair was left untouched and unadorned. It was hard to tell, but the was a light blush as well.

The twins were sporting kid's yukatas with Rom's being light blue and Ram's a light pink. They shared the same pattern of snowflakes and wore an obi in each other's color. They had simple hairclips. Rom's was a simple white daisy while Ram's was was a bright red one. They were happily playing around and chatting with the other candidates.

Uni wore a yukata similar to Noire's kimono in colors that was simpler in design but bore a simple white lily design that was mirrored by Nepgear's purple yukata. The obi wrap for Uni was a green that matched her HDD form's eye. Nepgear's obi was a light blue done to match her eyes as well. They both also wore the same white lily hairpin. They were enjoying their chat with the twins, but Uni had a blush of her own now that Noire looked more closely.

None of the CPUs had said anything yet. It was then that Purple Heart was shoved into the room. Unlike the others, she had no blush. She was a light purple kimono with a purple carnation pattern on the bottom half. Her hair was also adorned by a hairpin of the flower. She simply looked on in mild surprise as RED and Gust entered the room after them.

"Ok, that looks just as good as I had imagined!" RED declared with her eyes nearly sparkling at the sight.

"I will say I'm not too appreciative of the patterns, even if they are somewhat accurate," Green Heart stated with a frown in spite of her blush.

"Aw, but that's what makes them so special, you're all like a bouquet!" RED responded cheerfully.

"May I ask why mine is different from the other CPUs'?" White Heart demanded as she shifted around uncomfortably.

"That's because you're wifey White Heart and the pattern I wanted for you needed to stand out from the background. That's why I had yours done in a different style than the others. Though I decided to take away the hair adornment to help balance you out to the others," RED explained. Blanc was already used to RED's mannerisms and simply ignored it. Ranma seemed to be the only one to get her to stop calling her that. Then again, that was only when Ranma could hear…

"One more question if you please," Purple Heart requested," Why are we wearing nothing under these?"

"NEPTUNE!" The other CPUs screeched out as what they had been wanted to announce to the others had been revealed.

"RED!" Gust yelled in shock and a little anger.

"What? That's how you're supposed to wear these. While I can give you and the candidates a pass on this, the CPU wifeys and I need to exercise proper etiquette," RED admitted shamelessly. Everyone knew then that this was going to be a long day. A thought also occurred to Noire at that moment.

"Where's Ranma?"

* * *

Ranma was running late and not too happy about how she had been "helped". As it turns out, Ranma discovered that a number of the denizens of that hidden land are ridiculous on top of being powerful. One example was discovering that its most powerful denizen could control the boundaries of even the abstract. She never did answer whether or not she could solve all of Ranma's problems. Instead, she simply refused to help Ranma with her situation and said it would be too boring if she "could" step in and did so. Sadly, that didn't stop her from "helping" when it amused her though. Case in point is that Ranma was now going to make it to the ceremony on time, but she had found herself standing in front of her Basilicom in HDD wearing a kimono in the "traditional" fashion and thankful she was on the ground at the least. Her kimono was red with a pattern of orange sunburst like flowers. Ranma wasn't really much of a flower buff, so she had no idea what kind of flower it was. It kind of looked like a fully bloomed dandelion but far more elegant with colors and curling in around some central flowery bulbous structure. The more Ranma looked at the pattern, the more she realized there were other colors that were blending to look generally yellow. As for the obi, it was a blue color. Her hair had also not gone untouched either. The pigtail was gone and replaced by a tight ponytail. She could also feel a real flower had been placed in her hair. She poked it a little and it felt like the one shown on her kimono. As she was inspecting herself, she heard the sounds of people exiting the main building. When Ranma looked to them, there was silence for a moment.

"Wow!" Ram intoned at the sight with bright eyes.

"Pretty," Rom spoke.

"I-is that you Ranma!?" Noire asked almost incredulously.

"Aw, and I had such a nice one picked out for her too," RED bemoaned.

"Honestly, I doubt whatever you had could compete dear. The protea is perfect for Ranma," Vert remarked. Ranma sighed at these remarks and the others that followed. Blanc had stayed quiet throughout. After a moment, Ranma cut them off.

"This wasn't my idea, this was a _gift_ ," Ranma said that last word with clear distaste," from someone. Now, can we get this over with so I can stop wearing this get up!"

"Aw, you're no fun sometimes Red Heart!" RED pouted.

"Look, you can cut the titles and crap RED, just call me Ranma already sheesh!" Ranma demanded in annoyance. She was getting tired of RED's antics already. She really hated that weird fixation of hers to call others wifey all the time and had gotten her to stop calling her that to her face. Sadly, this lead to the use of that annoying title all the time. Ranma really hated it since it sounded girly in her opinion. RED, upon hearing this, lit up happily with a bright smile.

"Yeah! I finally earned enough points to drop the formalities!" RED exclaimed happily before glomping Ranma out of the blue. The goddess of red sighed before extracting herself from her nutcase oracle's grasp.

"Look, settle down will ya! We have a ceremony to get to!" Ranma declared before setting off towards the gate. The others soon followed.

* * *

The group of goddesses was met by a full escort of Eden's security in full armor lead by none other than Nisa. She was wearing something else as well. Her goggles had been replaced by a golden headdress patterned with coiling serpentine dragons whose eyes seemed to be red gemstones of various kinds. It did a good job of taking the place of the goggles the way she wore it. As for her clothes, she was wearing an outfit Ranma recalled as a kamishimo complete with the jacket. The hakama (pant/skirt) and kataginu(sleeveless jacket with big shoulders) was red while the base kimono was a plain white. The red and white yin yang was outlined in golden embroidery throughout the outfit. She exchanged her scarf for a large red cape. She was also not wearing any makeup. This meant that she could easily be mistaken for a pretty boy and the scowl on her face said she already knew. On the other hand, the guards seemed to be enjoying the outfit.

"Why is this…THING the dress uniform for the head of the guard?!" Nisa demanded with glowing yellow eyes upon seeing RED. Ranma could have sworn she saw her breath fire too. RED simply smiled as if she weren't about to be throttled by the head of security.

"Oh that? Because it seemed to suit you so well," RED started as the yellow began to turn into a fiery blaze," Now you look even more like a gallant defender of justice to whom everyone can look up to!"

That seemed to deflate the blue haired girl a little. She was still scowling, but there was something of a blush that she was clearly trying to hide. The others just boggled at this. _Was RED really that good at handling her or was it dumb luck?_ Thought most of the older members of the group.

After that, they made their way to the festival grounds to where everyone was gathering for the opening speech. As they made their way, there was some small talk and questions. One brought up was that the goddesses would be holding events each day. The opening ceremony was today. The candidates would be holding an event tomorrow. Then each of the CPUs would hold something. Sadly, it turned out that the other oracles would not be in attendance as they were needed to handle things back at home since the goddesses would all be here for the festival. Chika had finally gone home to Leanbox and was in tears when she saw Vert was already heading out this morning as she arrived.

As this was going on, Ranma started to notice a troubling trend with the crowds. She had yet to really check in on how things were being done since she had left almost immediately to seek training. She should have had a suspicion when she noticed the guards. Now that she was able to see what would be her people, she had a sinking feeling as she turned to her oracle," RED, is it me or are there a lot of women around here? Where are all the guys?"

"Hm? Oh, there aren't many. Just some masters who moved their schools here," RED answered thoughtfully. Ranma stared at her incredulously. Something was up. The others looked to Ranma in surprise.

"My! You didn't know?" Vert asked in mock surprise as she realized what must have happened.

"Wait a second, you've been here a while and haven't checked on things!?" Noire demanded angrily. She was going to have a word with her "student" after this.

"Oh, it seems we have something in common," Purple Heart stated. She was a bit hard to read in that form.

Blanc sighed at this," I had a feeling this would happen," she smiled as she finished. The candidates stayed out of this one. The twins did so simply because they had no idea what was going on. Nepgear did so because she was not sure what to say. Uni held her tongue because she knew her sister was already going to be giving Ranma a good talking to. Gust stayed quiet because she felt guilt for her part in it all. It was a good campaign and had some real good advantages economically down the road. RED was beaming happily that her goddess had taken note of her work.

"Ok, what is going on?" Ranma deadpanned. She knew she was going to regret learning, but she also knew better than to let something go unnoticed unless she wanted to suffer for it later.

"Ranma, you left everything to RED to handle," Blanc stated.

"Ok? But I left Gust there to help out too!" Ranma tried to defend herself. She still had yet to really get to know RED that well. She just knew some of the more obvious things like her fixation on… That's when a sudden chill ran up her spine.

"You left her as an economic advisor. She actually did a good job at that all things considered. Your oracle handled the campaigning mostly on her own with only some help from Gust," Blanc explained," It also didn't help that you agreed to that photo shoot."

"Wait, why would the-" Ranma cut herself off as she remembered what poses she had used. She had been on auto pilot mode for a Nabiki shoot," RED!"

"Huh!? Did I do something wrong Ranma?" RED asked in complete confusion and worry.

"You tricked me!" Ranma yelled at her.

"Tricked?" RED parroted as she tilted her head in more confusion. She honestly did not know what Ranma was talking about. It was only then as Ranma stared at her confused state that she realized that her oracle had not intentionally deceived her. She deflated a bit at this. They were going to be spending a lot of time during the festival so she can maybe figure the girl out. Then they were going to sit down with Gust and go over everything in detail after this. She really was not looking forward to the headache that was most definitely going to be. Then another thought occurred to her.

"Wait, why would those poses attract women here?" Everyone groaned at this. They were going to sit Ranma down after this to go over the ads and brochures.

* * *

The citizens of Eden and those visiting for the festivities were now gathered before a large platform surrounded by security. The candidates were standing at the back of the podium with Gust while RED and the CPUs stood at the front to give the opening speech. Fear gripped their souls. Some might be inclined to wonder why. The answer was quite simple. RED and Ranma were about to give an unrehearsed impromptu speech. This was possibly going to turn ugly, but RED had insisted that it would all be for the better. Plus it didn't hurt that the CPUs were present to run interference if it got out of hand.

"Hello everyone!" RED began cheerfully," I am RED, the oracle of this land. Now I'm supposed to give you all a speech for the festival," She paused to think while the audience had a little but of a chuckle at this. Then she snapped to it with her eyes practically sparkling with energy," This is Eden, the land of red passion! We are gathered here to celebrate the founding of a land to which we can all pursue our goals with the flames of passion. Whether it is for love or battle, it matters not for love is a battle and this battlefield is one we seek to prove ourselves upon. We are those who have chosen the flames of such a passion! Just as conflict can be endless, love knows no bounds! Take pride in walking your chosen path and always fight for what burns in your heart!"

Instead of the normal applaud one would expect, there was silence. The air was tense now with some form of expectation. Ranma was currently looking at her oracle with narrowed eyes. She had not considered that interpretation back then. However, the tension was growing. There seemed to be some form of expectation. _Why are they so quiet?_ Ranma turned her gaze upon her people. So many of them were women. Here they all now stood looking among one another with some form of expectation before fixing their focus upon their goddess. They were waiting to hear the first public words of their goddess and their expectations had been set high. She stepped forward to take over for RED since her short introduction was over apparently. RED did not step back but stood at her goddess's side smiling. Ranma took in a deep breath. This was utterly insane. She wasn't one for speeches and she knew. Finally she let it out slowly. She had to think of something on the spot.

"Ranma Saotome, sorry 'bout this," She started. The tension dropped like a rock as everyone looked at her in confusion. RED was still beaming happily," Not one for speeches and such. Had to beat up someone who was regularly because he was too dense to take no for an answer," There was a bit of laughter at this as she continued," The truth is, I am not someone from this world. I am someone who was born and raised in another world. I am Ranma Saotome, heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes martial arts. All I have known for most my life is battle of one kind or another. For most of it, I was trained in the art of combat. However, since RED wants to talk about love and battle," Ranma paused to glare at her oracle," I should say that I have suffered through that mess as well. Even so, I never really understood it, but I have at least learned. If you care about someone, you must always be willing to make the sacrifice for them. I will not tolerate the selfishness I suffered through from others trying to kill me or each other simply to rid themselves of an obstacle," Ranma said thoughtfully with a wry grin," Obstacles are not for kill. They are to be overcome. Love is not to be forced. Whether by law or stupidity, it is not to be messed with. As for battle," She paused as she released her HDD. This casued her kimono to sag in all the _right_ places and even expose a bit of cleavage though it was clearly not what Ranma had in mind. She simply ignored it as she smiled confidently to the masses before," I love it! It has been something that I have lived with all my life. It is something I enjoy. To improve myself and to prove to others I am the best. If you walk any path, go after it with all ya got!"

This time something else happened. Ranma was met with a roar of excitement. The CPUs stared at this scene. That speech wasn't really that good. It was a confused mess. Though Blanc and Vert smiled at it. It wasn't the speech that had mattered. What had mattered to these people was the feelings behind them. Ranma had met their expectations be simply telling them what she felt based on RED's speech. In short, they weren't interested in the formalities and decorum. They wanted to see the true face of their goddess. Vert was a little worried though. She had to wonder if RED had really been expecting this result or if it was a case of whimsy. After the incident at the convention, she had stopped working with her. Her last message was that she couldn't let any of the wifeys to be have an unfair advantage. Though, she did leave one final warning. _Do not push her, she needs strong bonds for what is to come, but she must be the one to decide._ Vert had never been in on the endgame or any of the details. She had been the one filling those in for a time, but now she had nothing to go on except to run interference. She was really hating how RED seemed to be unreadable to her.

* * *

Following the ceremony, everyone went into a nearby station where RED and the CPUs were changed into yukatas. They were similar to the kimonos as far as pattern and color went. The candidates also had to undergo a little bit of readjustment. This was so everyone could attend in their normal form. Nisa was unhappy to find out that she would have to continue wearing the dreaded outfit while she was on duty for the festival. She did lighten up a little when she heard RED had something prepared for her too.

The only one who had a major change was Ranma since the kimono she wore was not the one RED had prepared. Her yukata was red with a white flower pattern. The flower had a number of bell shaped blooms all facing down. Ranma was again not sure what flower this was. In all honesty, she didn't care. She just wanted to get enjoy the festival a bit. Before she could go with the others, RED grabbed her and Gust and dashed off into the surrounding crowds.

RED couldn't make this easy for the others. If they want to spend time with Ranma, they would need to find her first. Plus, she wanted to spend some time with Ranma wifey and Gust. The others had the rest of the week to try and lay claim to her wifey goddess's time. RED was happily giggling to herself as they became lost in the crowd. She had waited for this chance for too long!


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: *insert tired old joke again because this is a tired old joke*

AN: Hey guys, sorry about the wait, really hate it when that happens. Anyway, I should be back to writing regularly for the time being. Though there might be some slow down as I have a bit of a side project that was actually started earlier today. Anyways, hopefully you guys will like that this. Have fun!

* * *

Ranma was confused as she found herself and Gust being dragged away from the others by RED. However, she did not put up any resistance. It was mainly due to the fact that she was afraid. _Hey now, I_ _'_ _m Ranma Saotome and I_ _'_ _m not afraid of anything! Well_ _…_ _except for those four legged furry demons, but still! I_ _'_ _m not afraid of my friends! Just_ _…_ _cautious-_

Suddenly Ranma was pulled out of her thoughts suddenly as she found herself and Gust in RED's embrace.

"Wait wha-" Ranma questioned intelligently. _Hey now, there_ _'_ _s no need for snark!_ Ranma thought at absolutely nothing. Then looked about in confusion before her attention was recaptured by the others once more.

"You're crushing Gust!" Gust squeaked out.

"I'm so happy to finally get to spend time having fun with you two!" RED happily declared. Ranma then broke away from the show of intimacy as soon as she recollected herself. She seemed agitated at the show of affection from her Oracle," Aw, do… you still not have enough points with me?"

"Phew, Gust is saved," Gust said grateful at being out of the hug. While Ranma tried to think of how to deal with her crazy oracle.

"Listen, I don't really get what you're talking about, but I'm not really big on that stuff," the pigtailed goddess tried to reason," I mean after all, that kind of stuff has only gotten me in trouble in the past."

RED seemed a little sad for some reason before she literally shook it off with a shake of her head and looked Ranma straight in the eyes as she replied with determination," I understand, all I want if for w-er you to be happy!"

"Uh, thanks I guess?" the goddess replied to her oracle's determination as she scratched at the base of her pigtail nervously," So, why did you drag us off?"

"So we can spend time with you of course!" RED decalared happily," After all, this is the only time during the festival that will be available for the two of us to be with you!" RED then offered a hand each to her would be companions for the day," So let's just have a fun day together, right Gust?"

Gust sighed at RED's rambunctious ways before smiling and taking the offered hand and looked to Ranma with a smile and declared," Gust wants to have fun with Gust's friend"

Ranma just sighed in resignation at the two before smiling and taking the other offered hand with only a little hesitance. It wasn't like she was going to get in trouble with anyone around here. Unlike back home with the fiancé brigade. Ranma looked a little distant as she considered the fact that she needed to go home. There was no telling how the others back home were reacting. _Yeah right, probably just waiting for me to show up so they can throw all the blame. Probably preparing some load of bull for me to deal with for_ _"_ _running away from my responsibilities_ _"_ _!_ Ranma Shook this off quickly and looked on in grim determination. _Whatever, it doesn_ _'_ _t matter! I have to go home no matter what. Once I find a way, it_ _'_ _s goodbye to all of this-_

Ranma was quickly brought out of her thoughts by RED as she took her by surprise with a classic tackle glomp," HEY!"

RED wouldn't let go and stared Ranma in the eyes," No being sad! Cheer up, we're at a festival! Let's have lots of fun together!" She chirped happily to Ranma.

"Alright already and get off!" Ranma demanded in quickly vanishing agitation. It was nice to be worried over after all. Once RED got off and she finally stood up, Ranma felt something wrap about her waist. Looking down, she found Gust hugging her with a little worry on her face as she looked back up at her friend," It's ok," Ranma intoned as she patted her small friend's head," I'm fine, now let's let loose out here!"

With that said, any unhappy thoughts were dispelled for now as the trio threw themselves into having as much fun as possible.

The place wasn't just filled with the usual stands and games. It also had stalls selling an interesting variety of Chinese foods and wines, for those of age which Ranma most definitely refused, along with events like kite flying and mention of something called dragon boat racing that were being held in the rivers to the north. There were all number of activities going on. They didn't everywhere, they tried to do their best to enjoy what they could. Ranma even had to admit it was nice to hang out with the two girls. RED had shown a soft side as she had stopped at several of the game stalls to help some of the children who were struggling.

"Ya know, I gotta say. I always thought you were only cared about finding someone to love, but seein' this?" Ranma commented with a shrug as she watched RED return from her latest escapade of showing some kids how to scoop goldfish. Gust nodded in agreement. At this, RED puffed out her cheeks as if offended.

"That's mean! I am the seeker of love, and while finding wifeys is my goal," She started with a sniff as she turned away," Love comes in many forms," She finished sagely before taking a glance at the two who seemed a little shocked before giggling herself and launching into another glomp.

"OK! I get it," Ranma found herself laughing a little as she struggled her way out of her companion's embrace. She was really starting to warm up to RED, but the girl was just a bit too clingy for her. Not to mention it was a bit of a tiring task to ensure she understood she was just a friend. Though, Ranma had to wonder if she had even succeeded in that.

* * *

Elsewhere, Neptune, Noire, Nepgear, and Uni were wandering about the festival and enjoying some time together. Noire was still a bit disappointed that she had not managed to get Ranma to come with them, but she had been just as unprepared as the others for RED's little stunt. _Honestly! Is she trying to play a game of keep away with us now!?_ She thought in annoyance. She had found herself missing Ranma's company after the incident at the convention. It was strange how the boy turned goddess had made herself a part of Noire's life. Now she and Uni felt a little awkward watching shows without her. Ranma was the one who had managed to make the sisters of Lastation become a bit more open with one another. She had quite a bit to thank the new goddess for. _Even if she had squished me like a bug when we first met._ She thought with a sniff before breaking into a fit of giggles.

Uni turned to her sister in confusion," Sister?"

Nepgear seemed a little shocked," What the goodness?!"

Neptune didn't even react. She simply continued to look about like she had the entire time they had been here today.

Noire filed this thought away for later as she turned to the candidates with a smile," Don't mind me, just enjoying a personal joke," She waved off their stares," So let's move on and have some fun!"

The two nodded in agreement and they continued their wandering about. All the while Neptune seemed to be looking about as if expecting something. Eventually Noire sent the candidates off stating they might as well have fun since she and Neptune needed to rest. Nepgear seemed to be hesitant at this, but Uni quickly caught on. She grabbed her friend's hand and quite literally dragged her away. After that, Noire got some takoyaki from a stand for her and Neptune to share as they sat down at a bench. All the while, Neptune seemed distant as if looking for something.

"Ok you dunce," Noire demanded after forcing Neptune down on the bench and clutching her old friend's shoulders," What is going on here! I heard you were looking forward to this thing and now that it's here, you're not even enjoying it! What is going on Neptune!"

Neptune didn't reply at first as she tried to struggle against Noire's hold to no avail. She finally settled down. Then she puffed up her cheeks and looked away refusing to look Noire in the eyes," Oh, great, now I've got lonely heart mad at me again," she grumbled loudly.

"Oh can it! I'm not falling for that right now Neptune, answer the question!" Noire pressed on the purplette, quite literally in fact as her grasp increased in pressure," I'm worried about you!"

Neptune maintained that same defiant expression for a full minute as Noire glared at her after that. Finally, Neptune sighed as she finally caved in to Noire's demands. She fished out a crumpled looking not from her pocket and offered it to Noire," I'm sorry, guess I was too focused on this once I finally got here…" Noire quickly grabbed the note with one hand before her friend could put it away while holding her down by the head now," HEY!" Neptune cried out as she flailed uselessly with a blush. Upon reading the note, Noire sighed before tossing it away. Neptune yelped in a panic at this before finding herself in a hug from a crimson faced Noire as she stroked her back comfortingly.

"C-come on N-Neptune, everyth-thing is o-ok," Noire squeaked out in embarrassment and found herself even redder in the face when a smiling Neptune returned the hug.

"Thanks Noire, you're right," a lightly blushing Neptune declared as she then broke the moment and embrace and leapt up on the bench," now let's go and have some fun at this-" She cut off as she heard a squish sound.

"Neptune! Now look what you've done!" Noire cried out angrily as she pointed at the now wasted takoyaki.

"Uh, whoops," Neptune answered sheepishly with an embarrassed blush that quickly turned to a smile," Ah well, I wasn't feeling hungry anyway!~" She sing songed as she jumped down from her failed attempt at a pose and grabbed the pointing hand of Noire and dragged her away," Let's have fun!~"

"Neptune!"

* * *

Blanc found herself sighing once again at the situation. The twins were still looking a little down as they had yet again been denied a chance to play with their "brother". She was going to have a few words with RED on that when she got a hold of her. Her expression darkened at this thought once again, but it quickly faded. She had more important things to do. Like cheering Rom and Ram up.

"Come on you two, I know you were looking forward to playing with Ranma, but I'm sure you'll get the chance," Blanc tried to comfort them only for Rom to look down and Ram to look away with a grunt.

"Stupid red lady! Why does she keep taking Ranma-nii away!" Ram spat out petulantly before she too looked down at the ground. Blanc was really having a hard time of it. The fact of the matter was that she just didn't know them as well as she felt she should. They were getting along, but even now, she wasn't sure how to handle them. They were happy at first when Blanc started spending more time with them, but it looked like they still wanted Ranma. She too started to look down in melancholy. It wasn't Ranma's fault that this had happened. It was her own for only doing what she should have this entire time when she was needed as a substitute. It was looking like she was a fairly poor one at that. She shook these thoughts away angrily. She was Blanc, the goddess of Lowee, and she was not going to give up.

"Hey you two, we're at a festival! So let's get out there and have some fun already!" She yelled. While there wasn't any anger her expression, there was the presence of something that had hardened her face. It was her resolve. She was their sister and she was not going to let that be taken away from her!

The twins perked up at this as they looked to their older sister for a moment. They could see her resolve clearly and nodded. So it was that they went off together to have some fun. Soon enough they found themselves enjoying the festival together with their big sis Blanc.

Blanc was relieved to see this once more and was happily enjoying some pork buns that had been sold at a nearby stall as she sat down at a bench watching the twins try their hands at some ball game stand.

"Hello Blanc" "Hey Blanc!"

These voices caught Blanc's attention as she found the other two candidates approaching. Nepgear seemed to be a bit worse for wear and nervous about something while being pulled along by Uni. Blanc only shook her head at the duo before replying," Good to see you two. Enjoying the festival it seems," Blanc said before a thought occurred to her and her expression seemed to darken," But Uni, you should be more careful where you do such things, think of what would have happened if you'd been caught," before dropping her expression to give a small smirk to Nepgear.

Uni looked confused a bit before looking to her friend and noticing the state she was in from her earlier action. She blushed a bright red as she waved her hands frantically," I-it's not like that! Tell her Nepgear!"

Nepgear seemed to tear up at that moment before saying," It was awful how she f-forced me while saying things like _'_ _it_ _'_ _ll be okay_ _'_!"

Uni squawked in indignation while red a beet," N-N-N-Nepgear!"

That was when both Blanc and Nepgear started laughing together. That was when Uni finally realized that Blanc was joking. She glared balefully at Nepgear before huffing," How could you, and after all those moments we shared together two month-"

It was now a beat red Nepgear who had actually tackled her friend to the ground trying to stop Uni from saying anymore. Blanc just smiled before deciding the joke had run its course as she noticed the two were drawing the attention of the nearby crowd," you two should probably get up. Unless you want to be the next big scandal. Though I wouldn't mind since it would mean more shares for me."

Uni and Nepgear suddenly became away of the scene they were causing and scurried to get up as they noticed the twins were approaching.

"What's going on here!?" Ram demanded in confusion.

"No fighting, please," Rom asked worriedly.

"Nothing!" Shouted a red faced Uni.

"Don't worry Rom, it was just a joke taken too far," Nepgear reassured the timid twin.

Soon enough everything settled down. After a little bit of catching up, the twins asked if they could go play with the other candidates. Blanc relented to this with a warning to the others to make sure they stayed safe. After that, Blanc found herself sitting at a bench. She really wished she could get over this feeling. She wasn't sure what it was quite yet. She wasn't angry with Ranma for anything. Ranma had just been fairly good to the twins. Now she found herself wondering what was wrong. Was she failing as a sister somehow? She was almost certain that they had gotten closer as of late, but now she was not sure. Especially with how badly they had taken to not being able to be with Ranma. It was strange, but the more she thought about it. The more she realized they had really been pushing to have fun with Ranma…

"Oh my, what do we have here?" Said a familiar voice with an almost assuredly annoying action involving certain assets.

"Not now thundertits," Blanc muttered back without even looking.

"Oh come now, you should be having fun and cherishing this time with your sisters as you hold them to your bosom-" Vert took another stab at the short tempered goddess," Oh wait, I forgot you have none to share-"

Blanc had suddenly gone HDD and held her axe at the green godess's neck," How dare you bitch! Just because their off playing with the others doesn't mean-"

"Your bosom get's played with by the others?" Vert said with smirk," My how bold you are!"

Blanc dropped HDD at this as she blushed fiercely before growling out," Just shut up!"

Vert sighed at this reaction before sitting down on the bench that Blanc had been sitting at moments prior as the murmurs from the witnesses of their latest argument died down," You know, the twins love you right?"

Blanc decided to let it go for now. It would be better to talk at the moment rather than moping anyways. As such she sat back down," While it is none of your business… I just can't help but feel that I… I just am not a good sister to them."

"Well obviously!" Vert said in her usual haughty tones which evoked a growl from her bench partner," Joking aside though, I may have called your love for them into question in the past, but I know for certain now that you care about them. I'm also sure they care about you."

Blanc didn't say anything for a bit after that until she shook her head and sighed," But all I can do as be a substitute for Ranma to them…" she mumbled out quietly.

Vert had almost missed it. The key word be "almost". She actually started to laugh whole heartedly as Blanc began to look her way with a pissed expression and a growl," Sorry about that dear," Vert tried to appease her fellow goddess," It's just I couldn't help but think much the same about you and Ranma two months ago if you don't remember. Anyways I'm sure you'll see you're wrong about this in the end," Vert continued with a dignified giggle," After all, nothing is more beautiful than sisterly! Just give it time"

Blanc only shook her head with a sigh at this.

* * *

Nisa was happily gazing down upon herself in the yukata that RED had set aside. It was deep violet with a multitude of the same flowers in an array of colors ranging from reds, oranges to light pastel blues. She had found a note in the sleeve that had made her happy. She didn't know what the flower was until she read it. It the gladiolus and it apparently held the meanings of honor, morality, faith, sincerity, integrity, and perseverance. She couldn't be happier to be wearing it at this moment. Especially after the dreadful experience of wearing what amounted to her official dress uniform. She had also traded the headdress for a band that held the same flowers. Now she left the station set aside for her and the others to go enjoy the festivities.

"Hey justice wifey!" The all too familiar call came. Nisa only smiled in exasperation and shook her head at it as she turned to find a not at all expected trio. She had not expected Ranma and Gust to actually be with her," So you enjoy my little gift?" Red continued on happily. Nisa giggled at the other girl before nodding her head.

"Yup, it's so much better than _THAT_!" she replied happily at first before ending in a face of disgust.

"But you looked so gallant in it," RED said sadly as she looked a little put out. Nisa felt a little guilty, but not enough to take back her statement. So an awkward silence began to stretch out.

"Come on you two, quit worryin' about it and let's go have some more fun!" Ranma broke in at that moment much to Nisa's relief.

"Gust agrees, only day RED and Gust have off!" Gust added in reminding them they were all going to be much more busy in the days following this. On the exception of Ranma that is as it was agreed to give her as few responsibilities at this event as possible so she could relax and get to know her new nation a little bit better. With that in mind, the group struck out to enjoy the festivities once more. Nisa had to admit she was having a blast as they traveled about looking at all the sights and sound.

Nisa had to admit she liked how things had turned out. Not only the festival either. She actually enjoyed her job knowing that she was making lasting efforts in the name of justice in a new nation that would need it most. She also had come to enjoy hanging out with RED and in the others. Sure they had their quirks, but really, who didn't? Then there was her goddess. Ranma seemed to care very much about honor and the ways of her new nation. It was refreshing to serve under someone like that as well as befriending them. She looked forward to when things settled down and she could head out on some guild missions with Ranma. It was actually kind of fun fighting along side her back when everything was getting started.

"Hmm, I wonder if we'll be doing this again next year or if we'll be changing the date to two months ago when Ranma ascended," Nisa asked curiously as she thought about Ranma.

"Oh! That's a good idea, we'll have to see though!" RED answered cheerfully.

"Hmm, Gust think it a good idea if we can afford it, but Gust think we'll have to be more conservative next year since all of this was reserved and paid for be Leanbox before the reparations agreement ended," Gust gave her thoughts on the matter.

Ranma shrugged at this before answering," Not really sure seeing as I probably won't be here."

There was an awkward silence. Nisa had heard mention about this before from the other two present. However something always bothered her about it," Ranma, what are you planning to do about this nation? Why found it at all?"

The red goddess sighed as she cradled the back of her head," Honestly, I didn't want to because I never planned on staying forever. However, not knowing how long it will take to find a way back and being told I'll die forced the matter… Honestly I'm thinking of trying to find someone else willing to take the job once we figure out how."

"So you intend to turn your back on all of this responsibility as soon as the chance comes!" Nisa exclaimed. She wasn't sure why, but something about it didn't set right with her.

"Woah now, come on and let me explain," Ranma pleaded as she backpedaled while trying to wave her arms in a calming gesture," I'm not running away from anything…" She paused for a moment as Nisa looked at her intensely while Ranma nervously scratched her head," Just that, I have duties and responsibilities to fulfill back home."

Nisa looked at Ranma as she cooled down. Something still didn't set right with her though," What could be so much more important than a nation."

Ranma sighed at this as she looked a bit sad herself," Well, I guess to you it won't seem like it, but I have a serious matter back home involving not only my honor and that of my family but of others as well."

After that they sat down as Ranma explained the situation back home to the others. Nisa simply looked incredulous at this. She was certain of it. What Ranma had explained was utterly insane. Now some of the laws passed here were making a lot more sense as she realized at least one other person had already known. That would be the oracle. Gust seemed too shocked to be the one. RED on the other hand seemed sad. Even still, Nisa would talk to her about this later. Right now she still wanted to understand one thing," I know you care deeply about honor, but what you have explained is simply unjust! Not only that, but I question how anyone has any honor to speak of to call yours into question!"

Ranma didn't answer at first, her expression a mask of neutrality as the air cooled around her before she finally answered," I don't know, but it doesn't matter. I still am obligated and I refuse to give up… Sorry guys but I think I need to be alone for a bit."

With those parting words, Ranma fled the scene at incredible speed as she flew off. _Wow, she_ _'_ _s good at transforming!_ Was Nisa's initial thought before she recollected herself. She now knew her true purpose and her ultimate goal. It was always her path to bring justice and even now that held true. She would see justice upheld no matter what it took. Nisa's face hardened with determination.

* * *

Pain, anger, sadness, and fear filled Ranma as she sat among the illusionary sakura trees. She needed to hide herself. She needed to collect herself. She absolutely hated this weak form for causing Ranma so much trouble. She was certain if she were still a guy she wouldn't be suffering from these rampant emotions and feeling. Ranma pounded at the ground in frustration. Nothing ever seemed to go her way. Especially now since she had been faced with a problem she had never even wanted to think about.

The fact was, Ranma had never considered what Nisa had said. She never would have too since she was a fool and she knew it. She knew her father was a coward with no honor. The man had proven that time and again. Worse yet, Ranma still listened to her pops in spite of this. However, she still could not turn her back on the others back home. The Tendo family, Ukyo, and the others. Even if Ranma never intended to marry Shampoo, she had still hoped to find a way to solve her problem as she considered her a friend of sorts. Ultimately, she knew that no matter what she had to go back to face them.

The real crux of the matter came from the fact that Ranma was feeling happy in this strange world and had made some real good friends. Sure there was the fact that chaos still plagued her, but if what Histoire had said was true, chaos would always be a part of her life. However, she still hated being here while loving it. This place had stolen away her birth form. Her identity and constantly threatened her. She was a guy and she could not let that go. Even if she did have a major responsibility now due to her own need to survive. She never asked to be a ruler of a nation.

There was the crux of the problem. She was in a place that still managed to make her happy but shouldn't and wanting to go back to a place she was starting to realize she couldn't be happy even if she felt somehow she should. _What am I even talking about. The answer is simple! This is all this stupid body_ _'_ _s fault. I need to go back to being me!_

Ranma settled the matter with this last thought. Even so, she found herself unable to leave. Though she had made her choice, Ranma still couldn't ignore these feelings. They were holding her in place and tormenting her. Ranma grit her teeth as she angry punched the ground. This time the blow actually strained the illusion and threatened to break the wards. Ranma was now fully transformed. After a minute as the illusion repaired itself, Red Heart stood up on one shaky foot at a time before walking away slowly. Eventually, she made it out of the illusion and entered the gate. As she came into view of the Basilicom, she resumed her soul of ice. There should have been guards stationed outside the gate as well is inside, but she guessed that security was stretched with the festival. As it was, Ranma was greeted by one of the few guards stationed around here at the entrance to the Basilicom. Ranma gave a curt nod of acknowledgement as she passed her and entered the dojo. She needed something to work out these feelings and some training would be perfect.

* * *

RED had been worried when the discussion had started. She had feared things would go poorly and they had. The rest of the group had split up now. Each for a different unstated reason. RED hoped things would improve, but she had to do something in case things didn't. The problem was she wasn't quite sure. In all honesty and hindsight, she probably should have shared more about Ranma's past just to help avoid this. Now she needed to fix the mistake. Fortunately, she had time. After all, Ranma couldn't leave just yet and there was no telling how long that could be. However, that was also a downside as not knowing meant that Ranma could leave before she had a chance to fix this.

RED wandered about as she thought on the matter. It was as she came across two familiar faces that a plan began to take root.

* * *

Gust finally understood just what was going on. RED's "plan" had actually been an interesting idea, but it also had the potential to backfire horrendously. She now had to go and run damage control of her own. The problem was that she was going to need help. The bigger problem was that getting it could be an issue. Who would be on board with going along and aiding such a crazy scheme while being sane enough to help plan good damage control? Gust was not liking the probable answer to it, but she knew that it was too late to stop it as all the pieces had already been set motion. She really hated how reckless the oracle of Eden could be at times.


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: -UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK! (call back to an earlier disclaimer)

AN: So here we are. First and foremost, I am sorry about the delays. This time I should be good to continue making releases regularly again. As a note on this chapter, I had to go the three revisions before I came to this on. I do not know why, but I seemed to be having some issues. Is it perfect now? Not really. Do I care on that front. Well~ that's a bit more complicated, but for now, I'm just happy to have another day out of the festival done. Now, onto another note of importance. For those that don't know, I have recently released a trailer pack containing short bits on future content I plan to release. Please drop by and let me know your opinion. Not just what is good or bad, but any discussion you might want to address about them. I'm open to ideas and am willing to discuss them. Once a story has its first chapter released, it will be a bit late since that means I have decided and locked in the base plot. Meaning that anything that would contradict this can no longer be discussed. Plus I would really like to know which ones folks want to see out more (though I am not doing a poll again, since I plan to do all of the stories). That being said, enjoy!

* * *

Neptune and Noire had managed to have a good time so far. In spite of this however, she could not quite get the letter off her mind. Noire may have been right in most cases that the letter wasn't that important and could wait until the time mentioned on it. In most cases, that is. Unfortunately Noire did not know the sender as well as she did. There were just too many reasons involved in why she needed to be here. The most important of which was stopping the impending disaster. She had no idea how this mess was going to end beyond the disaster. _That and Histy is going to be Pissty if what I_ _'_ _m fearing comes true!_

It was now night time and with the end of the day came the end of their fun. Though she wouldn't mind having some ni- _Hey, watch it buddy!_ _T_ _hat was intentionally bad!-_ Ahem, she still desired to spend mo- _Stop trying to force the ship!_ Neptune thought fiercely towards nothing as she openly blushed. Unfortunately this blush did not go unnoticed and now Noire was starting to share it as she became more aware of the fact they were alone together and still dealing with her own confused set of feel- _Ah, nep it! Stop that_ _…_ Neptune's blush deepened in response. Not a word had been shared in the last five minutes- _I said stop-_

"Aw, how cute! Two goddess wifeys getting along!" Called out the voice of yet another disaster to come. _Nep it!_ Neptune thought once more with a pout before taking in a deep breath.

Meanwhile, Noire broke out of the moment and took on an expression of indignation and pointed at the red oracle," You, what were you thinking earlier. Are you trying to keep Ranma from everyone!"

RED's ever present cheerfulness seemed to slip for the briefest of moments. Unknown to the two, a certain purple haired goddess suffered from a twinge of the heart. She was still unsure as to why. Was it the memory of the incident or pain for her friend's words. So lost on this point that she didn't even THINK of mentally yelling at m- err, the fourth wall. As for RED, she titled her head after recovering," Is it wrong for me to spend time with wifey? I just wanted more time to get to know her."

Noire relented at this having to admit that RED had a point seeing as RED was Ranma's oracle and had yet to truly spend time with her goddess if what her reports from Kei stated was true. She sighed at this," I guess you have a point. Though if that's true, where is Ranma now?"

RED frowned at this and was silent for a moment as if considering something. During which the goddess of Lastation was starting to lose her patience. She was just about to say something," That might work!" only to be cut off by the now exuberant oracle," I need wifey's help!"

At this Noire suddenly found herself being dragged off by RED who didn't seem to take note of her protests. This left the currently small goddess of Planeptune alone. She stood there for a moment trying to comprehend what had happened and her own feelings. All the while she felt something seemed to feel as if it were being pulled taught. Finally as she contemplated a single emotion forth and suddenly everything felt slack once more. A smile graced her face.

* * *

Elsewhere, the goddess of green sat alone in the forest north of the city under the cover of some bamboo trees. She was enjoying some wine as she watched the scene of small boats bearing candles drift down the river. The sight of the floating lights drifting with the Eden acting as a backdrop was quite beautiful. True as it was that the area was technically beyond the protections of Eden's crystal, but the area was secured be the new Eden branch of the guild. Vert took a small sip as she thought about that. Eden was pushing a number of interesting little changes even with the guild. For one thing, they had actually added an affiliation system where by any martial school or clan received a rating based on the performance of their members. The higher the rating, the better support and more rights were gained by such affiliations. These benefits ranged from financial support to greater prestige or even certain tax exemptions. However, these came with a price of greater responsibility. It was a system designed to support the various martial schools and increase the quality of Eden's guild membership. _It_ _'_ _s a good thing this is Ranma_ _'_ _s nation. If any other goddess were to have such an up swing in potential military force, it might signal the resumption of the old war._ She thought soberly. However the moment passed as she took another sip. Her thoughts turning to earlier today. Of course she didn't spend much time with Blanc. Without the others around to mediate or distract them, she and the girl always found something to fight and argue over. She chuckled at the thought. Blanc really had been going through a lot it would seem. Vert still toyed with the idea of taking one of the causes for her own. She giggled at the passing thought before letting it drift away. She may still want a little sister, but she knew better now than to go stealing one. She sighed though as she considered the overall situation.

As she considered, she heard some rustling sounds and some deep breathing. She set the wine glass down next to the bottle on the blanket she sat upon before turning to see her out of breath visitor.

"Gust –huff- finally –huff- found you," said Ranma's little friend. Vert smiled at the small girl.

"Indeed you have," Vert replied before patting next to herself," You can have some of the iced tea in the basket over there."

Gust gladly plopped down on the blanket and drank some of the tea," Gust thanks you."

"It is no problem dear," Vert assured the girl as she settled back down to look out upon the scenery and taking a sip once more as she waited for her guest to catch her breath before finally asking," So what did you need of me?"

* * *

Blanc woke up in a room provided to her and the twins for the festival. She had had quite a bit to think about after the cow had left her alone yesterday. At this errant thought on yesterday she let's out a slow breath and amends to dropping some of the hostility. After all, Vert had tried to ease her mind on her own dilemma. Unfortunately, it can sometimes be hard to let go of her own aggression. _Especially when it comes to that antagonizing_ _…_ _Vert._ At this she takes a deep breath and lets it go slowly. She had other things to do than waste time thinking on matters that will only get her angry in the end. One such thing was waking the twins and having some fun today before they had to leave for the candidates' event preparation. It would be happening at night, but the candidates needed to meet up early in the afternoon. Glancing at a nearby clock and finding it to be eight in the morning, Blanc didn't want to waste the remaining five hours. As such she got out of her futon and stretched. As she looked down upon the angelic sleeping faces of her sisters, she had an idea for how to get the day rolling.

* * *

Vert was up and about that morning getting ready to head out. She had no real plans for the day as she had more important matters to think upon. In this case it was RED's plan. Well, possible, more like probable, plan. She was not sure how to feel about it if it was. However, that didn't matter at this point. What did was that Vert had a problem as she had already made a major contribution to RED's plan. It was already too late to stop now that Ranma had been provoked. If the plug was pulled now, it would only ensure a bad ending. So she had to figure out how to keep the ball rolling.

It was at this time that her thought processes were interrupted in their entirety. There was the loud clamber of people through the halls and some shouting in indignation. It took several moments for her mental processor to reboot after being run over by the cavalcade. When it did, one word surfaced. _A-ADORABLE!_ After it passed, a wicked smile played about her lips as a plan started. She had just found the best vector of attack for her opening salvo. The best part was, she would have to do very little to make it super effective.

* * *

Ranma woke up out of habit more than anything else. She was used to waking up early in the morning to train. She had done some training the previous night until she had fallen asleep. The physical strain of it had not been what did her in. It had been the mental side of it all. Her emotions would not settle no matter how hard she tried last night. She still felt a little tired. After stretching out to rid herself of stiffness from lying on the hard floor, Ranma left the dojo to head for the main building. Once outside, she noted the position of the sun and realized that she had slept in a little.

It was at this time she heard shouts of indignation that were nearly drowning out the sounds of running. Ranma turned to see a very unexpected sight. It was the goddesses of Lowee still in pajamas. Blanc was in the lead with a serene smile. Ram and Rom were giving chase. Ram was the one doing all of the yelling. Rom simply looked on determinedly at her target. The twins seemed to be displeased and it was obvious why. They both had drawings all over their faces. Ranma was actually shocked at the sight. However, she quickly recovered and took note of one detail. Whenever Ram stopped yelling to catch her breath, she was smiling.

* * *

As tiring as it was, Blanc had to admit she was having fun. She could still remember all of the times the twins had pulled this stunt to get her attention. She couldn't help but to get a little payback as she pulled out the marker that morning and then woke them up and told them to go wash up. With squawks of shock and indignation, the chase started. _Guess playing with them so much lately had to rub off somehow_. She thought while smiling. Soon she found herself outside. It was at this time she noticed Ranma and made a sudden realization.

All she had on was a negligee that looked similar to her usual dress and the essentials. As for the twins, they were wearing one piece pajamas in their usual colors. Blanc's face heated up as she realized this. She also froze up in embarrassment. Unfortunately, this cost her as the twins caught up and tackled her. Then the tickling started.

"Stop it!" Blanc cried out between fits of laughter as her face only heated more.

"Hey there kiddos, Blanc, having fun?" asked the presence that inadvertently caused this humiliation. Fortunately, the question also brought the tickle torture to an end as the twins left Blanc to hug Ranma.

"Ranma-nii!" They cried out happily. Blanc felt a bit of sadness at this. Her previous humiliation and embarrassment fled her.

"Hey there, sorry 'bout yesterday," Ranma replied as she patted their heads. Though sad, Blanc couldn't help but smile at her sisters' happiness.

"Please come and play with us today," Ram begged," And ya got to watch us at the event later."

"Well uh," Ranma began as she took note of Blanc. _Was she worried about me?_ However, that mattered less at this moment as the twins still looked to Ranma hopefully.

"Don't worry, it should be fine," She replied in her old neutral tone.

"Alright, guess I'll be hangin' out then," Ranma replied," but that can wait until we're all ready to go."

It was than that Blanc realized she was still in her nightwear.

A little while later, they were all outside the Basilicom in front of the entrance dressed in yukatas. They had met with the others in passing and everyone seemed to have their own plans for that day.

"Well, here we go!" Ranma declared as Ram cheered. Blanc stood silently ready to see them off when she felt a small hand grab her wrist. It was Rom. She stared at Blanc intently for a moment. The goddess of white found herself confused and conflicted at this. She looked up to find both Ranma and Ram look at her expectantly. She finally came to the conclusion they had all expected her to come from the beginning. She smiled at this and let Rom lead her as they joined the others. _How silly, I_ _'_ _m their sister. Ranma is like a brother to them. No one was replacing anyone._

* * *

Ranma was still unsure of herself in this situation. Something felt off that morning. She couldn't understand what it was but whatever it was, it didn't seem wrong either. Ranma brushed it off. She was happy to be spending time with the twins. Even if she wasn't sure how she felt about Blanc. She had to wonder at that. At first she had been hostile. Then there was the time when she showed care and worry out of obligation. She had even gotten on friendlier terms with her since, but there was always a distance. Ranma was never really sure what to make of small goddess.

During the time they spent together, the twins pretty much led them around the festival trying out all sorts of games. They were currently trying their hand at katanuki (a "candy" carving game using a needle). Ram had very quickly broken her own, but she now stood at Rom's shoulder watching intently as the quieter of the twins worked hard. Since Ranma wasn't really big on this kind of thing, it left her on a nearby bench with Blanc.

"You know Ranma… I really should thank you," Blanc suddenly spoke out as they watched the girls. Ranma was taken aback at the statement as she now turned to Lowee's CPU with a confused tilt to her head and a crooked brow. Blanc in turn was looking to her with that strangely serene yet unreadable expression.

"Uhm, dunno whatcha mean by that," Ranma replied letting the sentence die off in confusion. To this, Blanc smiled.

"Just felt it was necessary," Blanc stated as she broke her gaze to look back at her sisters," You know, they really do like you. They have been looking forward to having you around…" Blanc pursed her lips as if in thought on something before looking back to Ranma," And I think-"

She was interrupted by a song. Ranma was still a bit dazed. She had been taken by surprise by how Blanc was behaving, but she found herself lost in that moment for an entirely different reason. Something felt off yet again. It was not the first time she had felt it, but it was the first time she truly took note of it…

* * *

Blanc was disappointed at the interruption as a violin rendition of the song of time played loudly on her phone. _Then again, it might have been for the best._ Blanc thought as she turned the alarm off. She looked to Ranma once more only to catch a glimpse of her retreating form in the distance. She knew something was wrong. Unfortunately she had other things to attend to.

She stood up and went to Rom and Ram. Just as she approached, Ram gave a shout of glee much to the dismay of some of the nearby by festival goers. Rom had just finished. After a quick inspection by the woman running the event, she went to go get Rom's prize. It was then that the twins noticed their sister was with them.

"After you get your prize, we have to go or you'll be late," Blanc spoke before they could say a word.

"Aw, but we were having so much fun!" Ram whined.

"Um," Rom cut in," Where's Ranma-nii?"

Blanc winced internally at this before answering," She realized she had business to attend to," she quickly lied.

The twins looked to their big sister apprehensively," Ranma-nii will be there later, right?" Ram pleaded. Blanc smiled at this before embracing her sisters.

"Of course she will, Ranma always keeps her word as best she can," Blanc reassured them. It was at that time the woman running the event came back with a phone strap that had a plastic Ranma chibi giving a victory pose with a goofy un-Ranma smile and closed eyes.

* * *

Nisa was currently working and having to wear the dreaded outfit once again. While things were going generally well during the festival, there were still a few hot spots, but it was to be expected since Eden had attracted the attention of much of Gamindustri's martial arts community. While most had stayed away either because they were already established elsewhere or did not like certain policies, a number of masters seeking to establish themselves were drawn. The problem with this was that they had not gotten fully settled in and very few had students. As such, fights had a tendency to break out between the masters whenever they came across one another. Fortunately because of how small of a percentage these people represented of Eden's population, this was not a frequent occurrence. Unfortunately, these fights had a tendency to stir up trouble since they tended to cause panic and the populace, not to mention the tourists, had not quite adapted to Eden's martial arts policies. Namely that there were no laws against battling in public areas, or the fact that the penalties for harming bystanders meant it was highly unlikely to happen. This meant that Nisa and her subordinates were busy preventing public panic. Strangely enough, none of these fights have occurred in sight of the goddesses. _Then again there had only been two fights the previous day_ …

It was as Nisa was leaving the latest such incident that her phone started playing the theme from her favorite sentai series. She sighed as she took out the phone. She was not looking forward to yet another round of panic prevention," This is Nisa, report please."

"This is Meryl Strife reporting in regards to the last night's orders."

This piqued Nisa's attention, prompting her to say," Continue."

"Yes Ma'am! Target has fled the scene. Reason unknown. Target acting suspiciously!"

"Where is she heading?"

* * *

Ranma sought out a place of refuge. She needed somewhere to collect herself. She needed somewhere away from that feeling. Something about it disturbed her after she became more self conscious. _Damn this body! I will get my old self back and go-_

"Hey there Ranma, what's the rush?" called out familiar voice. She stopped and found Noire and Uni. Ranma felt a twisting within her. She had to flee. It hurt to do so, but she couldn't allow herself to fall into the trap her body was laying for her. _My body_ _…_ _Wait, could it be that OS crap from before doing this to me!?_ It made sense to her. After all, her body was that of a goddess right now and thus was likely being drawn toward performing its duty. A duty that would never allow her to go back home or become her old self again. With mounting horror, Ranma fled once more.

"What!? Hey wait!" Noire's indignant voice could be heard. Ranma ignored it in her desperate attempt to flee.

* * *

Uni and Nepgear had just finished a discussion with the events committee. They needed an area set up according to certain specifications for the joint candidate event. First they needed a large enough area sectioned off to allow for both an audience and participation. That had been handled prior to the festival itself. Secondly, they needed the musicians to be ready. That had been a bit of a problem since someone had suffered an injury from an accident the previous day. Thankfully, she had a back up properly practiced to stand in. Then there was getting word out for the event. That had been going fine since the candidates were the main attraction. The major problem they had come across was that the committee had only just gotten back the results of a survey. It was not good. As it turned out some traditions had fallen into obscurity only preserved in small communities across Gamindustri. This meant that they had to sit down with the council and talk to the oracles, sans Chika, to get a little extra funding to pay for more experts to help at the event. It had been a rather trying experience for the two candidates. Now that it was taken care of, it was getting time for the twins to show up so they can better coordinate their clothes and make last minute modifications as needed. Then they would be spending some time on last minute rehearsals. They had an hour set aside before the event proper to rest up and eat together.

As they were getting ready, Blanc showed up with the twins. Uni noted that there seemed to be a slightly worried look to Blanc. She couldn't place what it was that gave that impression… _Probably the frowning twins, duh!_ Blanc smiled as she gave the twins a hug and whispered something that seemed to brighten their expressions. Uni had to wonder what was going on. She remembered her big sister seemed to be more contemplative than normal last night when she arrived at their shared guestroom in the Basilicom. Noire had not turned in until much later. _Also, wasn_ _'_ _t Ranma supposed to be with Blanc and the twins today?_

"Take care of them, please," Blanc spoke out loud enough for Uni and Nepgear to hear before bowing and taking her leave. Lowee's little sisters joined them in getting ready for tonight.

"Oh my, what was all of the about?" Nepgear asked Rom curiously. Rom didn't answer at first.

"Yeah, wasn't Ranma with you guys? Where'd she go?" Uni added her own question in. To which Ram puffed up her cheeks in annoyance.

"We don't know!" Ram shot back.

"Ranma-nii… Left when alone with big sister Blanc," Rom answered quietly while looking down. Uni realized what must be eating the poor girl and clasped her shoulder.

"Well I'm sure it was important, Ranma never abandons friends or goes back on her words," Uni tried to reassure her. She felt the little girl quaver at this.

"But… Is she big sister's friend?" Rom asked. Ram seemed to be confused by this question though. Nepgear would have been the one to normally handle this, but she didn't know Ranma all that well. As such Nepgear looked a little apprehensive at this.

"Don't worry," Nepgear spoke up now smiling," If she isn't now, I'm sure she will be. After all, she forgave me."

* * *

Nisa only shook her head at the latest development regarding her quarry. It had only made it harder to generate an intercept course. However, that meant nothing to her in the end. After all, she would do the impossible itself for the sake of JUSTICE! She could see her target clearly and had already deployed agents for panic prevention. She had spent quite some time with her target during that first month and you don't spend time journeying and fighting along side someone without learning something. For instance, the best way to get their attention. She pulled out her dual prinny guns and opened fire on her goddess in open daylight while being careful to avoid hitting bystanders. They weren't warning shots either. As she fired she jumped from the rooftop in her old justice outfit to land across from Ranma as people fled the scene only to be stopped by her troops to be handed a policy brochure and popcorn. The now forming audience would have to get their own drinks.

Ranma twisted about and performed a roll as she abandoned her earlier dash. Once Nisa had made her jump, Ranma pushed off the ground to quickly come to a stand and enter into a stance. She seemed confused at first when she saw her would be assailant, but that quickly turned into a confident smirk that Nisa was familiar with. Nisa only returned the grin as she brandished her guns and entered a stance of her with both guns on target.

"Ranma, I won't change my stance from last night," Nisa declared bringing a frown to her current opponent," So why don't you show me your determination."

Ranma stared at her for the barest of seconds as if considering something before giving a sigh," Looks like some things I'll never get a break from," She growled out before shaking her head," I told you before, I have obligations Nisa. I can't turn my back on them."

"Did you ever agree or give your word in the first place!" Nisa demanded as she opened fire while charging the new goddess. She took care to angle the shots too high or low to hit the crowd. Though this meant she was at a serious disadvantage, she had a number of tricks up her sleeves for this fight. As for Ranma, she dodged and weaved through the bullets as she moved to meet her. Ranma never answered. She only engaged. More shots were fired, but they were never meant to actually hit. They were a distraction, a threat that could not simply be ignored. In this case they were meant to cut off her opponent's ability to dodge to either side as she twisted about to deliver a dead center kick backed by her weight and the full force of the charge. Ranma in turn lunged forth to knock the kick off course and latch onto the limb with the same arm to pull her off balance and add more momentum to the now errant kick. Nisa watched as she turned with the motion to present her elbow. It was aimed at her chin. Nisa relaxed her other leg, causing her to fall and just barely avoid being knocked out by the blow. She would have tried to fire at that point, but could not guarantee civilian safety if she did. As it was, Ranma released her leg. Nisa went skidding on her back at angle that made recovery hard. Not to mention it hurt! As it was, she had to wait to slow down before twisting around and coming to one knee only to find Ranma already upon her. Nisa was about to fire in a last ditch effort to get her more time to recover on reflex, but before it came to that, there was a rush of wind as someone seemed to materialize before her.

"That's enough Ranma, you've clearly won," Green Heart stated as she now stood between the two former combatants," Now would you two like to talk this over with me instead of making a bigger scene?"

* * *

Vert had been contacted and told Ranma's heading. She was about to try and stop Ranma herself when Nisa made her entrance. Vert should have known she had something of her own planned based on what she knew of her and what Gust had told her of the previous night. _While her heart is in the right place, she_ _'_ _s too straight forward for something this_ _…_ _Delicate._ Vert thought as she saw the fight break out. It didn't take long to realize it was a mismatch. Ranma was like an end game character. If she kept this up, she would become one of those secret unlockable characters that were considered too strong for game balance. She was quickly taken out of these thoughts when she noticed Ranma's movements and expression. She may be holding back, but she was not playing. Vert began her transformation after the first major exchange that sent poor Nisa skidding. She managed to intervene before it got ugly. Something seemed off about Ranma at that moment. Like her focus was slipping.

"Nothin' to talk about. I have my duties and she has her opinion. We're not budgin' on the matter," Ranma spat petulantly. She was definitely not in a good mood.

"Ranma, people don't just fight like that over a simple argument. I think we need to talk," Vert tried to persuade Ranma as she untransformed. Ranma snorted derisively at this.

"Yeah right, I've had to fight folks for the most insane reasons on a regular basis. This isn't any different," Ranma declared with a shake of her head.

"Honestly, I'd rather talk about this, but it can wait," Nisa spoke up as she slowly stood. She was scraped up pretty bad ," I think I'll have to take a trip to the clinic," With that said, Eden's defender of just turned leave revealing the back of her suit had been torn and more scrapes. Ranma winced when she realized just how rough she had gotten during the short engagement.

"So would you like to talk to me?" Vert asked," Believe it or not, I am known for giving out some good advice. At least it can't hurt."

"Fine, I guess you could help," The redhead goddess conceded at last.

A short time later, they were sat at a tea shop. Vert sat quietly as she let Ranma explain the issue from her side. It looked pretty bad. She was rationalizing things to lay blame for something she couldn't understand. After finishing her current cup of tea, she finally spoke up," I will admit that I can't dispel all of your concerns, but I will say this. OS only provides information. It isn't like some all encompassing force that guides you. I mean look at Neptune. Do you think any goddess could be that lazy if something like that was making her work?"

Ranma cheered up a little at the crack on Neptune," Well, that helps a little I guess, but what about those feelings?"

While Vert knew full well what was going on, she felt this was a lesson best learned on one's own," It's nothing I can help you with at this juncture…" _Plus it hurts a little to not be included._ Ranma seemed to be just fine talking to her at the moment," But I will say it won't be resolved by running away."

* * *

Blanc watched as the event began. The four candidates stood upon a multi-layered tower like stage on the lower stage. They were dancing a traditional Eden dance to the music played by performers on the ground surrounding them. Around that was a growing ring of people performing the same dance. There were also experts helping interested parties learn the dance to join in. Blanc had watched for a little bit before deciding to join as well. She felt a little silly as she was given instruction. Even once she joined the ring itself she felt a little silly since she knew she was likely not getting it right. She was about to quit when she noticed someone new join next to her. It was Ranma performing the dance with the utmost grace.

"Not bad for your first time in one of these," Ranma encouraged her without missing a beat. Blanc smiled and decided to keep trying.


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: ... don't own setting or characters... Also I think I'll start posting more regularly... fingers crossed

AN: *Nervous chuckle* Hi there. Now please forgive me about the delays on this. There actually were some personal matters involved including me stupidly deciding to do things that drastically cut into my writing time. Good news is I'm back and planning to release chapters regularly again. Now for the bad news. I have decided to focus on this story until I finish a certain arc. This means those of you waiting for the next chapter of one of my other stories have a bit of a wait. It also means that those of you looking forward to any stories advertised in the trailer park have an even bigger wait. As to why I have decided this. Well, I found out the hard way that lack of focus in writing can very quickly turn into lack of written material for me. So I'm gonna be focusing on getting this story "completed" before I move on to the others. Again, sorry for the massive delay.

* * *

It was the following day and Ranma found herself with the same group as yesterday. There was something wrong however. That feeling was not going away like Vert had said. She wondered if maybe she was doing something wrong. These thoughts however kept being interrupted as Blanc and the twins led her around. Not that the twins were acting differently, but Blanc just seemed to be more active than the prior day. Not to mention the smile she had kept breaking Ranma's thoughts. It was getting close to the time that Blanc would have to go for her event that day. If Vert couldn't help, maybe it had to be one of the people she kept feeling this around.

"So, uh, I think I need your help with something, at least I think?" Ranma finally asked as the four of them sat down at a café to have a quick meal together before Blanc had to go. The twins looked on curiously as Blanc crooked a brow before nodding for Ranma to continue," Well, ya see, it has to do with what happened yesterday-"

Ranma went on to describe what happened that led to her fleeing with the twins asking various questions and smiling. Blanc had remained silent the entire time.

"The thing is, I'm not sure what is going on, but Vert told me I needed to face it if I want to fix it," Ranma finished. During it all, she had her eyes closed to better focus on it all. She now opened her eyes to find Blanc staring downward and the twins with their hands clapped over their mouths. It was then that Blanc's face seemed to turn bright red. This surprised Ranma as the twins shared a glance and fled the scene. _What did I do wrong!?_ Ranma thought as she looked at what was likely a very angry Blanc. She had quickly gotten out of her seat as Blanc did much the same. She was not expecting Blanc to flee in pursuit of the twins. This left Ranma completely lost and confused.

* * *

Blanc sat upon a stage over looking the Karuta game contests she was hosting. It was broken into two blocks. One for beginners that used an easier card set with images and hiragana. The other, much smaller block was using decks that had poems instead. There had actually been a good turn out when word got out on what the prizes were. The top 10 contestants from each block would be receiving a censored book about the origins of Lady Red Heart written by Blanc. She had contacted RED in order to get permission from Ranma. Ranma had agreed so long as the embarrassing stuff was left out. RED then took it upon herself to act as the censor. Anything that would cause problems was left out. Such as how Ranma came here or her plans to return. The book would be released on the last day of the festival proper. This got some attention, but the real draw had been the first place prizes. The beginners would be receiving a full collection of old Eden's games and systems. As for the advanced game winner, they would be receiving these as well, but also a reserved copy of Eden's in development new system.

However, Blanc wasn't really paying attention. Her face kept heating up as she remembered the incident from earlier. She had charged after her sisters to try and stop them from whatever it was they were planning. Sadly, they had given her the slip in the crowd outside. _Damn it Ranma, why do you have to be so dense sometimes._ Her cheeks only heated up more.

* * *

Vert was currently in the advanced bracket of Blanc's contest. She had made it all the way to the finals. As such, she had procured a place in the top 10. However, she was aiming for the top. She had done her level best to learn this game when she heard about the prize. Due to the differing capabilities of different consoles, servers were kept separate. If she wanted to play the upcoming 5 Goddesses Online with Ranma, she needed to make sure she had the same console. As such, she was aiming for first. The next card would decide it all. She had been focused on the game up to that point, but an errant thought on how Blanc was doing watching over all of this made her take a glance. Vert froze at the sight of Blanc's blushing visage. She hadn't even moved or reacted when the winner had been announced. She could only think of one thing. _Too cute!_

* * *

Noire and Uni were out making preparations for tomorrow's events. They were a little disappointed that Ranma had already been grabbed up by the twins that morning, but Ranma had promised to hang out with them tomorrow. As such, they needed to get as much of the prep work done as possible to free up time. However, there had been a transportation accident. Now she and Uni were looking around for a decent replacement. It was during this that they came across Rom and Ram. Ram seemed to be looking every which way for something or someone when Rom tugged her arm and pointed their way. Noire had to wonder what was going on at that moment. _Where_ _'_ _s Ranma?_

"Hey Uni and Noire!" Ram called out as they came running up to them," Ya got to hear this!"

"Okay, settle down and tell us already," Uni demanded while making motions for them to calm down. Ram seemed to settle a little, but it was still obvious she was brimming with energy.

"Ranma-nii is in love!" Ram yelled out. Noire felt that conflicting emotion she had been feeling rise at this.

"Woah, you mean she confessed or something!?" Uni exclaimed in shock.

Rom shook her head at this to which seemed to lighten the burden on Noire's heart," She told big sister about why she left yesterday."

"What does that have to do with love?" Uni asked with a bit of confusion. _Definitely_ _a misunderstanding_. Noire thought to herself. Then the twins went about explaining it and a certain name. None of the candidates noticed as the one CPU among them slipped away.

* * *

Ranma didn't know what to make of her current situation as she found herself confronted once more by Nisa. She was wearing her formal outfit today. It was probably to hide the bandages underneath. Ranma thought with a wince. Nisa smiled to her.

"So, you ready to talk this out?" Nisa began as she approached Ranma on a main street leading to the Basilicom. The redheaded goddess stopped for a moment to consider this. She felt a little guilty over her actions from before. However, she did not know what good talking would do. The fact was that she couldn't stay in this world because of her honor. She was bound by those promises. As she thought about this, she felt a hand on her shoulder," Ranma, are you okay? You're crying," Nisa whispered as she began to lead Ranma away quickly down a nearby alley. At this statement she realized that tears had begun to roll down her face. She wasn't resisting her friend's guiding as she scrubbed furiously at her face.

"I am not. I'm a guy and guys don't cry!" she growled out, before adding in a hushed tone," Stupid body."

Nisa turned her around and looked her straight in the eyes," Everyone cries Ranma, it's just a part of having emotions. So don't go blaming it on that body."

There was a silence as Ranma considered whether or not to give one of her usual retorts. She stopped as she was about to, realizing what she was about to say and how it all stemmed from one of the biggest idiots in her life, pops. She sighed before relenting," Fine, so what is it you wanted to talk about."

"You already know, it has to do with your plan to go back to that place," Nisa replied.

"I have to; it's a matter of honor." Ranma shot back weakly. They were already starting to retread the argument from before.

"Ranma, this isn't just about that. If this is anything like in the stories, once you go you might never come back. You have people here who care about you. Who will miss you as you go back to a place where you are likely to suffer," Nisa pleaded as she brought Ranma into a hug. The contact caused Ranma to stiffen in trepidation. Fortunately it was a brief contact before she found herself at arms length once more. Strangely she found she missed it," Sorry about that, I forget you get a little tense about such things."

"It's fine, at least none of the old gang was here to see it," Ranma retorted as she considered Nisa's words. Ultimately it didn't matter, Ranma only had a few things she could call her own over the years. Her honor was one of them. As such when it came to defending it, she would do so with tooth and nail if need be. That didn't mean that Nisa's words didn't hurt. She could feel her eyes welling up," Anyways, please drop the subject for now. We can talk about it when Histy figures this stuff out."

The other girl frowned at this and seemed about ready to refuse but then sighed before making up her mind," I guess you're right. We should be enjoying the time we have…" she spoke thoughtfully. Ranma was too relieved at the time to notice the look on the girl's face that screamed there was a plan in the works.

* * *

Noire was not sure what was going on with her. It had hurt to hear that Ranma had come to love Blanc. However, she still suffered from her own internal confusion. One she finally understood. She loved Ranma. She also loved Neptune. Her face began to heat up at this thought as she began to wonder the streets of Eden trying to find a place to calm down. For a second she felt the knee jerk reaction to deny her love for Neptune, but the pain from recognizing her love for Ranma and what had made her feelings so confused as of late stopped her. It was then that she considered RED's words after she had been dragged off the other night.

 _"_ _What is the meaning of this!_ _"_ _Noire demanded as RED came to a stop once they were alone._

 _"_ _Ranma wifey needs your help,_ _"_ _RED answered quickly._

 _"_ _Then where is she!?_ _"_ _demanded an annoyed goddess._

 _"_ _Not right now, might be a bad idea, but please talk to her if you get a chance,_ _"_ _RED seemed to almost be pleading,_ _"_ _And whatever wifey does or says, please listen to her to the end and tell her the truth._ _"_

Noire had tried to do just that the previous day only for Ranma to flee. Not that she needed RED to tell her to. She would have done so regardless. It had hurt all the same when the one she realized someone she loved ran on her. It was about at this time that she suffered a sudden bump and found herself dumped on the ground with a squawk of indignation.

"Oh my, so sorry dear, I was just a bit lost there myself," Vert apologized as she offered to help Noire off the ground.

"Thanks," Noire huffed as she accepted Vert's hand and got up.

"Are you okay dear, it seems you've been hurt," Vert pressed after.

"You know perfectly well it would take more than that to hurt one of us," Noire shot back.

"Then do my eyes deceive me for I see something here," the goddess of Leanbox stated as she reached her hand to Noire's face to quickly withdraw it and show moisture. She then noticed it on her own face. She had started to cry.

"I know nothing of this," she shot back heatedly.

"You know you can drop it and talk to me dear," Vert spoke in a sincere tone," No one else is here at the moment. Oh and here," she offered a handkerchief to her. Noire hesitantly accepted it before being led off to somewhere. They soon were at a café. It seemed a little strange. Something about the place seemed off.

"Onee-chan, Onee-chan! It's good to see you again, please have a seat!" greeted a hostess.

"Onee-chan?" Noire inquired as she started to realize where she had been dragged.

"Well of course, the Imouto Café is great, I've become something of a regular already," Vert said happily as they found their seats," They have excellent service!"

Noire groaned at this as she let Vert handle the orders. Places like this usually had a special way of ordering," It figures you'd find such a place."

"Well it was only inevitable that places like this would be around," Vert pointed out.

"That oracle is going to cause a lot of grief before it's all said and done," Noire said in annoyance.

"Ah, much better! Now we can talk," Vert declared only to get a confused look," What? It was obvious you needed to relax a little and nothing like a good joke, even if it's at my own expense."

Noire gave an unfeminine snort at this before settling on a small giggle joined by Vert," Fine, you pulled one over on me. It was just too believable!"

"Oh, just because I used it as a gag doesn't make it any less true," Vert said as a matter of fact. Noire wanted to laugh again but noticed that though there was mirth in her voice, there was something in Vert's eyes that belied it," So what seems to be the matter?"

Noire wasn't sure at first whether or not to open up, but Vert managed to get her to admit to most of it. The one thing she had kept from her voluptuous companion was her own realization about her feelings though she had a sinking suspicion said companion already knew.

"Hmmm, how interesting. I just so happen to remember talking to Ranma after that little episode," Vert said before taking a sip of her tea. This caught Noire by surprise and she listened intently," It seems Ranma has gone and made a mess again, I must say her propensity for this sort of thing is quite remarkable. Now as I was saying, my advice to you is to talk to her and listen to her regardless of what she says and does and tell her the truth."

"But-" Noire tried to argue only to find her lips sealed by a single finger of Vert's.

"No ifs ands or buts dear, misunderstandings seem to spring up around Ranma. You both need this," Vert declared with no room for reproach.

* * *

Elsewhere, Ranma was now relaxing by a tree. Nisa had to go back to her duties shortly after their little talk earlier. This left Ranma alone once more. She still had a lot she needed to think about and had decided to take a break from the festivities. Due to the fact most of the city was filled with the sounds of merriment, Ranma had slipped away into the protective sakura barrier. There was only her and the tranquility of the ever falling sakura.

In this environment, Ranma found peace and was able to gather her thoughts. She wanted dearly to blame all of her problems on this body of hers; to cast doubt upon everyone's assurances. In a way, she still held some of these doubts. Even if her friends were right about her base emotions such as crying, which she couldn't argue against when she recalled how many men had done so back in Nerima, they had no frame of reference for what happens to a mortal turned deity. It was this that brought the most fear to Ranma. There was honestly no telling what this change was doing to her. The very fact that this change was unprecedented made all assurances fall in doubt.

After a short while, the beauty of this place was no longer able to help Ranma's spirits as her thoughts continued. Realizing this she decided to return to the festivities. Hopefully it would help to distract her. She really needed it. A little bit after deciding to rejoin the rest of the city, she found herself standing by one of the proper entrances into the basilicom and looking out onto on of the main streets. As it so happens, she caught the sight of something that really caught her attention. Not too far away there was a crowd of people intermixed with members of Nisa's security watching an event. One that was quite unmistakable for the pigtailed goddess. A grin formed on her lips as she leapt up to get a better view.

She saw a man and a woman who were locked in battle with one another. The man was clearly a master of the sword. The blade seemed to be an over sized 9 ring saber that exchanged the 9 small rings for a couple large rings. He also had daggers sheathed on his calves. As for what he wore, it seemed mostly ceremonial except for the armor. The one detail about the man's gear that bothered Ranma was the helmet. On top of looking silly to Ranma's sensibilities, it had to be seriously limiting his field of vision.

As for his opponent, it was a Chinese woman with her hair done up in buns and wearing blue Chinese dress with yellow trim. Or at least that is what Ranma assumed the woman had once worn. It was clear she was losing the fight. As Ranma's jump peaked and she started to descend, the two began a major exchange. The swordsman charged forth and the woman tried to meet him with a flurry of amiguriken speed kicks only for the man to seemingly disappear just out of the kicks' range only to appear once more at her side another set of cuts decorating the girl's clothes. Ranma's eyes narrowed at this as the exchange continued. It wasn't so much that there was anything wrong say for the fact the swordsman was clearly traveling at speeds too great for him to handle based on his lithe form. This is usually compensated for with ki reinforcement. However it was clear the man only used his ki for two things during the exchange. One was to reinforce the edge, and the other was to push his body to speeds far greater that it could normally handle. It was clear that the man was a master from the care he was taking to not actually harm his opponent whom he completely outclassed, but his dependence on his equipment to compensate for his excesses annoyed Ranma. It was also clear the woman wasn't a novice, but her form seemed to be a far cry from being truly mastered. Another problem was that Ranma was seeing the signs of overspecialized training in her legs. It was clear who would win. Suddenly the two jumped apart as Ranma landed in the middle of the impromptu battlefield.

For a moment silence filled the area as Ranma took in the two fighters before looking to the woman in disappointment," look lady, don't mean to burst your bubble, but if this went any further you'd not only lose the fight but your modesty," the girl blushed for a second before scowling," Look, ya did good and all but you clearly need to work on your form and start thinking more, er… ah! Three dimensionally! That's it! You were completely focused on the front. Completely limited your range of movements and left yourself open to attack from the sides. Also, you need to move away from overspecializing or your legs are going to actually get in the way with their bulk. I'd suggest looking into meditation and adding more variety to your attack options. Anyways, I'd leave and get changed if I were you. I got some words for the guy clearly compensating for something over there," She finished as she pointed to the now frowning swordsman. The woman giggled before nodding her head and taking her leave.

"I thank you for ending that before it went any further. That child simply would not listen to reason," the man spoke evenly," However I do not enjoy the insult to my weapon and style."

"Oh woe is me! Look, I can see you're something of a master and all so I won't question some of your choices such as the alteration to the design of your blade or the fact you are handicapping yourself with that helmet as it is or the fact you're relying too heavily on that equipment ya got there. Not my problem. However if you want to fight –"

"You'll have to win the tournament or wait until after," A familiar voice called out from behind drawing the two would be combatants," Sorry Ranma but it wouldn't do for you to fight anyone until then as it's supposed to be part of first place's prize"

Ranma looked as if she was going to protest this fact but was cut off by the other," My apologies goddess. I had missed the opening ceremony and as such was unable to recognize you. With this I look forward to the tournament and shall consider the wisdom you have imparted even if vague," with his part spoken the man left.

As the crowd dispersed now that it was clear that there would be no more fighting though some stayed to see the goddess, Ranma continued to glare at Nisa. She sighed in response," Ranma, it would be unjust to belittle another's hard work. That man and many others have already registered for the tournament with the hope to be the first to challenge you in an official capacity. Please do not demean their efforts."

Ranma's glare changed to a pout before finally letting it slide as she had to admit that she would not be happy if the situation had been reversed. Ok, if she were the sword guy she'd be ecstatic, but if she were any of the others she would be pissed. However she did recall something," Wait, won't they already be pissed about the incident yesterday!?"

Nisa seemed to hum in thought about something before her face lit up with a mischievous grin," I don't recall you fighting yesterday. If I remember correctly the report said that a hero of justice sought to bring someone who just happened to look like you to their senses."

Ranma only shook her head with a wry grin in understanding the misdirection at play or the fact that her friend had just taken a shot at her," Sure, too bad she bit off more than she can chew," she shot back.

Nisa's eyes sharpened at that," She'll just have to train enough to ensure no injustice is too great for her"

"We'll have to see about that won't we?" Ranma fired back. The two smiled before shaking hands on their little agreement before turning away for their own purposes. One to attend to justice and the other to find some fun.

* * *

Sometime later Ranma found herself sitting on a bench along the main street leading south from the Basilicom. She was alone at the moment trying to enjoy some ice cream. Trying being the key word here. As to why it was hard for her to enjoy one of her favorite treats, she couldn't but help to notice all of the festivities and people. It made feel lonely. She hadn't run into anyone she knew since her run in with Nisa.

"Is this seat taken?" called a familiar voice beside Ranma. She looked up from her nearly demolished treat to the beaming face of Falcom.

"Oh hey, Falcom, how's it going?" Ranma replied to the adventurer as Falcom took a seat next to her.

"Oh it's been going," the traveling novelist replied as she pulled a book out," found me something good at an event earlier, got to say it's quite the read!" She went on with a mischievous smile. At this gesture, Ranma took note of the book and paled.

"They didn't!" the newest goddess in Gamindustri cried in surprise.

"I figured as much," Falcom sighed as she looked at the book," You didn't ok this. Though I can see why they published it," Ranma raised an inquiring brow at that," There is an entire nation of people who have actually decided to place their faith in you in spite of not knowing much about you. This is likely something to better consolidate and strengthen that faith. At least that's my take on it, especially if Lady Blanc wrote it."

This last bit of information brought a bit of a blush to Ranma's face. Somehow she trusted her to have not put anything too private in there. Though it did weird her out a little to think that so many people would be interested in her life. Then again, why wouldn't they be. She's the best after all. For a moment she felt a familiar swell of pride before something got her attention. Namely Falcom standing in front of her now and poking her forehead.

"Hellooo, Gamindustri to Ranma," Falcom chided as she continued to poke only for Ranma to finally swat her hand away gently and shake her head," Sheesh, you suddenly spaced out there a moment, at first I thought you might be crushing on Lady Blanc for a moment there but then you started smirking. What getting a swelled head there?" This last bit was said impishly before Ranma found herself being dragged away by her friend," Anyways since you're here let's have some fun!"

Ranma only nodded numbly as she considered her friend's words.

* * *

Elsewhere, Neptune was enjoying the sights and sounds with Nepgear. She really did like spending time with her little sister. As such she was enjoying it to the max!

"Okay Nep Jr. next we got to go head south side and hit up some cafés. I hear they got some really fun ones down there!" Neptune yelled out jubilantly as she dragged her little sister along.

"S-sister!- sorry- Please slow down,-my apologies- it is only the third day!" Nepgear cried as she was dragged along.

"Yup, we've burned half the free time I got left what with the event in two days and the tournament on the last!" Neptune replied cheekily as she continued weaving through the crowded streets and causing Nepgear to bump into various people unceremoniously.

"What!? You're going to compete!?" her little sister yelped in shock and failed to apologize to several passing people.

"Huh? Nep no! I'm watching of course, it should be very promising. Not to mention my future rests on the outcome!" Neptune answered. The poor candidate of Planeptune found herself dumbstruck to rest of the way to goodness knows where.

* * *

The oracles were holding a secret video conference that evening. RED had called it and had just finished explaining SOME of her plans and presenting the information she had secretly ordered gathered.

"And that's the situation," RED concluded the first half of the meeting," I need your cooperation in order to get the last pieces for my main operation ready in time."

Histoire did not like what she had heard thus far. While she could understand and agree with RED's goal, her methods were highly questionable at best. On another note it did finally remind her about that bit of research she was supposed to be doing all of this time. She had to chuckle at that. However, someone else broke the silence before she could begin her argument.

"Absolutely not!" Chika roared," I will not agree to such an arrangement!"

"Don't worry wifey Chika, it's not like anything could happen unless the Goddess wifeys wanted it to," RED stated while paying no mind to Chika's vehemence.

"I will have it taken care of immediately," Mina broke in.

"As will I," added Kei. Chika stared forward at her camera in shock.

"WHAT!? You can't seriously be willing to-" Chika began in indignation.

"Yes I am, and so should you if you have any faith in your CPU," Mina cut her off," I understand you care about Lady Vert, but you might want to consider what this is really about."

Chika seemed ready to bluster at first. Instead, she sighed before giving her answer," Fine, I'll play along for now. No one questions my faith to Lady Vert."

With Chika's and the others' sides put to rest, Histoire finally spoke her piece of the matter," While I would like to agree with you all in spite of my own personal misgivings on the matter. I understand the potential of its success. Sadly, it simply is not possible," the others looked on in confusion as Histoire went off screen to retrieve an old document dating back to the old Console Wars," This document states clearly that unless its requirements are fulfilled, anything along the lines of what you are asking cannot be fulfilled."

As she explained this, she scanned it and sent copies to the others. Kei was the first to reply," But this condition is impossible to fulfill. This contract is null and void, isn't it."

Histoire shook her head," I'm afraid that it is still active as it requires Neptune to declare it as such. Honestly, I don't have the heart to broach the matter."

After all, the last thing Histoire wanted to do was bring up that sensitive matter with Neptune.

* * *

It was night now and Vert sat alone in her guestroom. She really wished she could spend some more time with the others. In some ways she felt left out and on the sideline as a supporting character in a visual novel. Helpful and with a fan base if interesting but having no chance of getting with the protagonist due to being overshadowed by the main cast. She really wanted to have her chance, but it would have to wait a few days. She couldn't help but wonder which ending Ranma would have in RED's little game. If RED had a say, Vert was certain it would be the harem end. Vert couldn't help but think that it would be much harder than RED thinks it would be to achieve. She sighed at this thought as she pulled a book and began to read. Information was always important in war. War, Vert was most certain, it would be if RED's plan failed. So Vert did her best for that possibility. Though she hoped for the best, she prepared for the worst. After all, alls fair in love and war.


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: Do I really have to keep doing this? *hears gun cocking noise* Alrighty then! I do not own these characters and setting.

AN: Well, here we go. So I took note of some things mentioned by "Someone" and realized I totally screwed up on a certain rule of story telling. Well, I took myself to task and made myself try to do certain scenes. No idea if their good or not. Hell, I wouldn't be shocked if I screwed up somewhere in them along the way. Another thing to note is that because of those scenes and my own tendency for exposition because I wanted to work on certain literary skills I tend to over look, like being descriptive, this chapter became a bit longer than I had been planning. Normally I aim for around the 5k mark per chapter. When I hit it and realized I was not going to hit a good end mark for the day in this chapter, I said hell no. It has been over a year since this arc started, I am not going to make a day take two chapters. So here's a longer than usual chapter from me to enjoy until I release the next chapter. Hopefully that will be in a few day. Also I know I'm forgetting to give a warning, but I can't remember what it was going to be... Oh well.

* * *

It was morning and Ranma had already found herself dragged away by Uni along with Noire as they went out that day. It was probably for the best. Blanc had not been forgiving last night. At least that is what it seemed to Ranma since her face started to turn red every time the Goddess of Lowee saw her. Somehow Ranma couldn't quite be angry as something about that face resonated with some instinct that she had to push down and lock up. Now she was away from that and with Noire and her beaming sister.

As excitable as the younger sister was, Ranma couldn't help feeling something was off with Noire. That or it was that same strange feeling from when she fled from the black goddess coming back. Probably both… Ranma gulped a lump in her throat and turned to Noire. She had been quiet the entire morning only bothering to talk to Uni or reply when spoken to. At the moment Uni had left them alone to try her hand at an arcade tournament. She wanted to try and win a vintage set of some popular Eden game series that hade been remade on other consoles. It looked VERY familiar.

"Umm, Noire?" Ranma began, to which the CPU of Lastation seemed to jolt a little as if being woken up," You okay?"

"W-well, of cour-" Noire began only to stop herself as if contemplating something before letting loose a sighing," No, I guess I'm not quite alright," she admitted as she peered up at the sky for a moment before settling her sight on Ranma with a serious look," And nor are you. We need to talk."

Ranma could feel her heart begin to pound a little as Noire took her hand and led her to a nearby bench. It was at that time Ranma remembered what had happened the previous day when she tried to follow Vert's advice with Blanc. She didn't want it to repeat.

"Ranma, I heard about yesterday. The twins were quite the gossip," Noire began directly broaching the sore topic with the pigtailed goddess," Ranma, just tell me the truth."

At first the goddess of Eden wanted to flee, but she found she couldn't. Real men don't flee in fear. They can tactically withdraw, but they must face their fear and win. Ranma was a man, if not in body for the time being, and HE would face this. Also a part of her was reminded of Vert's words once more. They may not have worked so well last time, but she doubted Vert meant ill. Ranma finally firmed her resolve," I spoke to Blanc about the incident in which I fled the two of you… I was afraid something I had not felt before. I- er, felt my face burning, and my heart started to beat as if I was fighting Saffron…" Ranma stopped for a moment as she felt her face heat up and realized that her heart was pounding," My mouth had felt dry and I think I'm feeling a little dizzy. I just didn't know what to do and ran," She stopped to swipe at some perspiration on her forehead wether imagined or not, she wasn't sure, she cleared her throat," Anyways that's what I felt when I saw you and-"

Ranma was cut off when she heard a gasp to the side. It was Uni looking on in shock before her face contorted into anger," Ranma how could you be-"

"Stop it little sister," The CPU of Lastation commanded drawing both of their attention to her clearly blushing personage," Ranma, I have a question for you."

Ranma did the best to hold her ground in the face of what she thought to be her friend's anger," Y-yea?"

"Have you ever been in l-love before?" Noire stuttered a little as she couldn't believe what she was hearing and it was really embarrassing her to have to deal with this with anyone let alone someone she realized she had feelings for only yesterday herself.

"Well duh, I mean I loved Akane and all," Ranma replied bluntly in confusion. A confusion that was now shared with Noire as Uni only seemed to be more angry and a little hurt.

"You-!" She began Once more.

"Uni! Please," the older sister demanded once more before turning her attention to Ranma," And you're saying you never felt these feeling before? Even with Akane?"

Ranma simply tilted her head in confusion," Nope?"

Uni had felt hurt this entire time at the idea that Ranma was some kind of two-timer or something. She did not like the idea that Ranma could betray her trust so greatly. However, her sister insisted on listening to this obvious traitor. At least that is what she thought until she heard that answer. Though she had to admit she had only heard the last bit of what Ranma had said since she was just returning from an early loss and disqualification from the event. A part of her still insisted that Ranma was a liar, but she knew Ranma was horrible at lying to anyone but herself. Now she was confused by what Ranma had said. Was it possible that Ranma had no clue?

"Are you sure you loved this Akane?" Noire inquired," Because it sounds like you didn't."

Ranma looked offended at this," Of I loved her, she was like-"She didn't finish it. Instead She stopped as she tried to come to terms with something. Ranma began to grasp her forehead as if trying to understand what it was.

Meanwhile Noire nodded as she finally came into view of the last piece of the puzzle. She decided to share," Ranma, I think you've been confusing something else entirely for the kind of love we're talking about."

For a moment Ranma seemed to freeze. Eventually her body relaxed. Only for her to flee the scene leaving behind two confused goddesses of Lastation.

* * *

Neptune was currently in a conference call on her cell phone. She was also currently busting a gut," Y-you have got to be nepping me good. You're telling me that THE martial arts harem master doesn't know what is love!?"

Noire's sigh was audible over the line," Neptune, this is serious! Ranma is currently on the loose and needs help!"

It was then another sigh was heard over the line," Great, I'll see what I can do. Though I doubt it would be good for me or Noire to be the ones to handle Ranma at the moment."

This was met with more laughter from the purple haired heroine," Got that right! Who'd have thought she'd confess to you to like that!?"

The previous voice turned ice cold," Shut it Neptune! At this point the only one among us I'd say is qualified for this is Ms. Thundertits," Blanc noted in disgust.

This disgust was met with a haughty laugh," Don't worry my little deary, I'll make everything all better with my big heart!"

"Like hell you will B-"

It was at that moment the line went dead. Too bad for the people near Neptune said goddess was still howling in laughter for a moment before she finally settled down.

"Hoo boy, that was funny," Neptune commented as she turned to her concerned little sister," Well Nep Jr. we got a harem master to track down!"

Nepgear was only confused further as her sister started the search humming an old song that asked about love.

* * *

Blanc was annoyed and a little bit angry. She heard a metallic whine and found the safety railing for the pedestrian bridge she was crossing was now bent and twisted. Correction, she was pissed. More so at herself than anyone else. She had been so busy trying to deal with her own feelings since yesterday that she had never considered what Ranma was going through. Ranma lacked an understanding and had come to her first and she instead had been more concerned about her little sisters' gossiping and her reaction to the pig tailed goddess. However, that was not the whole of it. Oh no, Noire of all people had somehow wormed her way into the heart of Blanc's first love. There was a sudden crash as Blanc slammed her own head into a wall demolishing it and receiving applause from the nearby audience.

"Lady Blanc, I'm going to have to stop you right there," said a familiar voice that the now scowling goddess turned to," I could have sworn that you were already aware that the property damage lenience ONLY extends to those with martial arts insurance."

Blanc collected herself and let out a sigh before replying to Nisa," My apologies, I was just starting to lose my head there and needed to clear it," And she really needed to clear it. After all, Noire had been just as much in the dark as she had been. She had no reason to be angry at her. Instead she should be mad at- the was another crash as she did her best to crush such a thought in its infancy. After all, it wasn't Ranma's fault either. She was the victim of an idiot father. An evil smile settled upon her lips as she found a viable target for her rage.

"Please stop!" Nisa cried out in alarm as she prepared to fight. Blanc looked to her again with that malicious smile.

"Sorry, I had to crush an even worse thought. Please forward the fines to the Lowee Basilicom and contact Mina about getting the insurance for me. I'm going to be busy," Blanc apologized once more. Once said, she was about to leave and return to her search for her errant lo- Ranma.

"You heard her girls, relay that to the Basilicom. Also I'll be leaving you all to your duties, let Aile know she has command!" Nisa ordered quickly to her now dispersing subordinates," Now tell me what Ranma did this time."

"It's not her fault," Blanc growled out reflexively before shaking her head," She's confused and it would seem Noire and I have made a mess of it. Now we're all trying to track her down."

"Well, you could have just asked. I have one of my best trackers on the job keeping me updated on her whereabouts," Nisa replied with a smirk as she began taking out a cell phone. Blanc quirked an eyebrow at this.

"You do know this is Ranma we're talking about?" She inquired in disbelief.

"I know, this girl actually had to track down some guy called the humanoid hurricane or something like that without anything to go one. I marked her down for this job as soon as I could," Nisa explained as she waited for said agent to pick up," Hey Merryl, where is our goddess now," She had to wait a second for the wheezing to stop before she got an answer," Good, give me an update if she leaves before me or one of the goddesses show up," She then ended the call," Well, looks like she wanted to be alone. She's in the Sakura Barrier. When she comes out, it'll be by the south entrance."

Blanc could not believe what she just saw. There was someone out there capable of tracking Ranma. There was also the fact Nisa had someone assigned to spy duty on her own goddess. Then again, this was Ranma they talking about. It made sense that something like this would be necessary.

"Well, let's go meet her," Nisa said as she began to lead the way only to find Blanc holding her wrist and slightly shaking her head in a negative gesture. The little goddess seemed a bit rigid for a moment before she let out a sigh.

"Call Vert and leave it to her," Blanc said before letting go and leaving the scene. As much as the two tended to get into arguments, Blanc knew it was only a form of teasing from her fellow goddess. Not that there wasn't some problems between them. They both were envious of the other. Blanc wished she could have a more mature body and Vert wished she could have sisters. They had both realized this some time ago. They had buried most of the animosity involved and simply used their verbal spars as an outlet for their pent up feelings. Heck, they'd probably be partying over at Neptune's place right now after the Deity of Sin crap if Ranma had not shown up.

"Ranma," she almost prayerfully whispered the name. A light blush was coming to her face once again. She really couldn't deny it. She loved the wild goddess.

* * *

Ranma sat alone in the barrier. Something was wrong. She knew she loved Akane. She had to. She had killed to save the uncute tomboy. She could even remember how she felt those times they almost had an intimate moment. Like the time they almost kissed until they realized they were being spied on by their families. It wasn't the same as the utter disgust that rose from thinking of Kuno or the vile of Sanzenin… She unleashed a powerful punch upon a nearby tree causing the illusion to momentarily distort for an instant before returning to normal.

She had to love Akane. It wasn't simply a matter of honor and her being the best by process of elimination. Akane had to truly mean more to her or else… She shook her head at this line of thought. Instead trying to combat it from another angle, she then got up and started up some katas to help her focus.

What did this have to do with her feelings now. Ranma had not even finished the first form when her mind came to a suggestion that resulted in her losing her footing and sent her tumbling into another of the illusionary trees. She winced as she recovered. Settling down, her mind returned to that last thought and her heart began to race as her face began to burn. No, she couldn't possibly mean that I lo- It was then that her thoughts came to another conclusion.

"I AM NOT A KUNO!" She screamed in fury as her power visibly manifested about her in a fiery red aura. No, Noire had to have been alluding to something else or simply curious. It had to be. There was no way that Ranma was turning into a Kuno.

It was at this time that Ranma felt a growling sensation in her stomach. She was hungry. She chuckled at the distraction and decided to make her way out. Food was always one of the best distractions after all.

It was on her way out that she ran into Vert," Why, there you are dear! Everyone has been worried about you."

Ranma cringed a little at the reminder and was just taking up a deceptively defensive stance while scanning for escapes in case of an ambush," Look, this is really not the time Vert."

Vert smiled gently to Ranma as she raised both hands in a disarming gesture," You don't have to worry, I'm the only one here. I just wanted to spend some time with you," it was at this time that Ranma's stomach growled more loudly to remind its pigtailed owner it HUNGERED. Vert stared for an instance before letting loose a melodious giggle," Oh dear me I should have known. Come along dear, my treat. I know of a darling place that should suit you well."

Ranma blushed at this in embarrassment and surrendered to the green goddess's kind offer. After all, hunger was the enemy. Strangely, Ranma couldn't help but think she heard someone sneeze in the background. Focusing back on the matter at hand, Ranma followed Vert since she said she knew a place. Sad fact was, that Ranma's best option alone was to go to a random place or hit up a festival vendor. She had not spent much time in "her" nation. She really needed to find a replacement. However, Ranma was in the need of a serious meal. At least she thinks? Ranma only shook her head at that.

"I must say it is always inconvenient when things like imagined stomachs decide to act up," Vert commented as they made their way.

"Wait! Imagined!?" Ranma replied in shock.

"Well yes, we're goddesses and comprised of share energy. Despite our appearances we are very different from regular people," Vert explained.

"But then I don't need to eat?" Ranma asked confused only to be answered by a roar making her think Vert might be pulling her leg.

"Well, that's a little trickier. Our forms are made so that we can be close to and better understand our followers. Plus most people are more likely to follow a cutie than some disembodied mass of energy unable to empathize with them," Vert began to explain and punctuated the last bit with a wink. The old Ranma might not have understood it completely, but he still would have got the gist. After all, Amaterasu is a major deity in Japan even today. The Ranma Vert was giving the impromptu lesson, however, understood her completely. After a short pause answered by a nod from Ranma, Vert continued," Obviously it would be bad if our bodies were too much like a normal person's as that would weaken us and interfere with a key function of our existence. We exist to protect, Ranma. We were made for battle and as such it would be bad to have a human's frailty. However, we also need to bring happiness. Hard to do that when you don't understand the physical needs of your followers. Noire at least told you about the O.S. right? I'm honestly surprised she didn't go over this."

Ranma smiled sheepishly before responding," I might have had a bit of a handicap what with my pops focusing on martial arts on the road. I only had a little bit of book learning."

Vert thought about it for a second. That would explain it. She had been reading this, but she had made an assumption that seemed to be wrong," Odd, the O.S. should have helped with that."

"It does, only it seems to work differently. Noire wondered the same thing actually. Turns out it's acting as a library in my head. Information is there, but if I can't understand it, it does no good. Turns out you goddesses start off with the understanding," Ranma stated sourly. It would have been nice if that hadn't been the case. She would have spent less time studying and more time… She shook her head as she found she couldn't quite decide what it could have been used for or why. Not that it mattered.

Vert watched this and decided after Ranma seemed to clear her thoughts to continue her lesson on goddess anatomy 101," Well, to put it simply. O.S. is responsible for a number of functions. It defines our reality and keeps it running. It enforces the rules and such. We goddesses have a limited connection to it. In fact when all currently active CPUs get together, they can change and make new rules. An example of this is the creation of the oracles, or more precisely, the creation of the rules selects them for us and pairs a goddess with an oracle."

Ranma wanted to interrupt as a thought came to mind, but she had restrained herself in order to finish the lesson. Noire never liked to be interrupted when teaching so Ranma figured it might be the same here.

"Now, going back to what started the conversation- oh, dear. I should mention the O.S. also defines our parameters and locks the base ones," Vert quickly added when she saw a spark of hope on Ranma's face. She hated to be the bearer of bad news, but she didn't want to give false hope," The system does this to protect us. If we manipulated this and screwed up, there could be no fixing the result as we, the only ones able to fix it, would be inoperable. Trust me; I'm fairly certain Blanc would have put a maturity requirement in there with our blessings if not for this lock out. We can only alter things we added."

Ranma sighed in disappointment. She should have known it wouldn't be that easy. Blanc's body was always a sore topic for her. Ranma couldn't even blame her. It was like Ms. Hinako only without a martial arts skill to use as a work around.

Vert let off a said sigh before continuing," To get to the point. The O.S. simulates these needs for us and through it we experience them. It's simulation for you is likely based on your old body and therefore explains it's current behavior since I don't think any of the others have that extreme of a hunger reaction. Oh, and just like that, we're here," the Goddess of Leanbox finished with a smile.

The place before Ranma seemed to be larger than a regular restaurant and was located in the "traditional" Eden section of the city. The outside of the structure had the call marks of Chinese architecture thanks to its heavier use of stone work and the red paint on the exterior woodwork. The structure was shaped like a two, stacked, one story cylinders, with the top one smaller, capped with a green tiled, steeple roof with similar roofing skirting the divide between the two floors. The plaster walls were white. In fronts of the front entrance stood a torii bearing a sign that read "Lillies at War".

Ranma quirked a brow for a moment as she considered the strange name. She figured she either was misreading it or this was the wrong place. Judging by Vert leading her to the building confidently, she had to have misread. Once inside, she found it be more akin to her homeland which was still a little jarring for her. However, this only lasted an instant before she started to hear some very familiar sounds. Vert quickly spoke to the hostess while Ranma was taking in her surroundings. They were taken along a hall that seemed wrap along the exterior of the structure and up a flight of stares. All the while Ranma glanced about and taking note of Vert seeming to be unabashed despite the strangeness of this place. Once they reached the top of the stairs, Ranma was met with quite a sight.

It was set up like an arena. The dining area was where the audience sat. There were two kinds of tables. The more traditional kind that were away from the central railing, and the individual stadium style seating closer to a railing. Ranma and Vert were sat at the latter where Ranma finally saw what this place was about.

It wasn't _like_ an arena. It was an arena. The seats they took near the railing gave them a perfect view below. It was a level area with sliding doors from which food would be set in the center in something akin to massive buffet tables with various platforms and obstacles strewn about. Throughout all of this were girls wearing a uniform reminiscent of what the Jouketsuzoku wore battling each other over the food in the buffet. Some used weapons and others didn't. Once these uniformed women had what they were after, they went about going through the obstacles and leaping to platforms to make their way to serving their tables. Interestingly enough, there were also a few not in uniform doing much the same.

"My, it would seem one of you haven't been here before," noted the hostess dressed in a formal kimono.

"Indeed she hasn't. I wanted to take her here as a bit of a surprise," Vert replied while Ranma looked on below.

"So I take it she is unprepared for the buffet?" The woman inquired. When Ranma heard this, she felt a hand rest on her shoulder. She turned to see Vert's gentle smile.

"Oh, I'm sure she is more than prepared, but we have some matters to attend to and I believe she isn't supposed to be fighting until the tournament. Right?" Vert explained while forming her grasp just a bit.

Ranma was a little annoyed at the reminder, but she had to wonder at what that had to do with the buffet. All the same she nodded to vert's question.

"Oh, a tournament participant? I hear some of the girls are looking forward to it. We had to hold our own little event to decide who could participate since the owner insisted we stay open that day," the hostess exclaimed thoughtfully.

"Oh my, that's too bad, but business is business. In any case, we'll be making orders," Vert steered the conversation. The other woman nodded and then left after providing menus. Large menus with quite a selection.

"Hey, why couldn't I get the buffet!?" Ranma demanded in annoyance. It was rare that she got to go to one since they all started putting bans on her back home.

"You notice the people not in uniforms?" Vert asked.

"Yeah," Ranma replied.

"They are here for the buffet. The **Battle** buffet," the green goddess pointed out.

"Oh," was all the pigtailed goddess uttered as realization struck. She then sheepishly went on," Nisa would not be happy about that, would she?"

"I'd imagine neither would the people looking forward to the tournament," Vert shot back.

"Alright, ya got me there," Ranma said as she made a disarming gesture. Soon after this, a waitress came and got their orders before going below and returning with said orders. It was actually quite the show.

"Good, now that we have the food, we can have our little talk-" Vert began only to find Ranma stuffing her face in her usual manner. Vert sighed as she delicately picked at her food in wait for Ranma to finish demolishing her own meal. Of coarse, that didn't take long," Now are you ready to talk?" Ranma nodded," Good, so I heard that you had a bit of a problem earlier with Noire?"

"Well," Ranma began as she winced," I tried talking to her like you said. At first she acted a little like Blanc did yesterday before she ran."

"Noire ran?" Vert asked confused.

Ranma shook her head," Nah, Blanc did. Anyway, I thought Noire was mad like her sister was, but instead she started asking odd questions like if I ever felt that were for Akane. When I said no, well I just couldn't handle it when she suggested I might not have loved her. I have to!" Ranma was getting a little nervous and could feel something cold like ice run through her. Vert noticed this and had to stop herself from hugging the pigtailed girl before her. She trembled at the effort. Instead she settled for resting her hand on Ranma's shoulder.

"I think I understand. Ranma, did you know there are many kinds of love? Such as love for family or friends?" Vert asked slowly.

"Well yeah, I know that, I love Ukyo like a sister and all," Answered Ranma obstinately.

Vert thought back on what she had read so far and doubted that," Ranma, when you say this, are you using your family as a frame of reference?"

Ranma seemed a bit confused by this question. She had to think for a bit, but the answer came," Yeah, a little more than I care for the old man"

"Ranma, I want you to think carefully about that. What was he like to you. What are others' fathers to them. And can you say you love and feel it. We'll talk about it another time after you've thought about it," Vert went on. Her meal may only be halfway done, but Ranma wasn't the kind to stay in one place. As such she made a bit of a decision," Well, that's it for now, but you have an apology to give. Take this ticket and watch the event, and here," she handed the ticket and a brochure," That will help you get there. You have about half an hour to get there. Which should be easy for you," Vert went on as Ranma stared at said brochure. After waving Ranma goodbye and assuring she had the bill, even though she knew Mina would not be pleased when she saw it, she pulled out her phone once more.

* * *

Ranma found herself once again confused. She had no idea what this had to do with her father. Regardless, she made good time by roof hopping. Interestingly enough, she wasn't the only one. She had been spending so much time hanging out with the others or distracted with one issue or another to actually notice it. At least that is what she thought. She honestly had no clue on the manner. While she only passed a few people using this mode of travel, it was still more than what was commonly seen in Nerima. Of course it was then another thought finally came to her. One of nostalgia. She hadn't noticed before, but it was quickly becoming obvious now. This nation was made with her in mind. It had been built around her and her interests. The book from the day prior even showed how RED would know enough to do this. Another quick thought was the fact that RED was her oracle. A person selected by the powers that ran this world to be the best person to help her.

The problem was obvious. If everything was meant for her, it would be very hard to find someone to be a good replacement. She scowled at this. She should have taken a closer role in setting this place up. Even if she lacked the know how…

The more Ranma thought on the matter, the more frustrated she became. However, this line of thinking was sunk once she landed in the street and approached the building where Noire's event was being held. The reason for this was Blanc standing there looking stunned. The small goddess scowled for a moment before her face started to turn red.

"Look I'm-" Ranma began hurriedly. She could feel her heart race and her face burn again. When these feelings took the fore, Ranma found herself unable to finish what she was saying. Blanc, all the while, rigidly approached. The movement seemed oddly mechanical as if she were trying to restrain herself. Ranma found herself oddly fascinated. Why couldn't she move?

It was when the goddesses stood before one another, one looking up as the other looked down to one another, that Ranma saw her face. Something in her chest clenched for a second and then dropped with Ranma following. This was much to the surprise of Blanc who broke free from her mechanical movements to go to Ranma's side.

"Are you alright?" she spoke quietly as she knelt down. Those soft syllables holding a strange tenderness and worry.

Ranma mind started up once more as she opened her eyes once more. There was a blush rising in her face. As was one starting to return to Blanc's as their eyes met. It was in that moment Ranma realized it wasn't anger. Somehow this only brought back the thumping from before. However, she felt strength," I'm fine, sorry 'bout this"

Blanc blinked at the other's answer and smiled before allowing a small, melodic giggle at some unseen joke before shaking her head and stepping back," You never had anything to be sorry for, so accept mine in return."

In saying this, she offered her hand. After Ranma stood up, she found the feelling had changed somehow. It felt warming and that some weight had been lifted. She smiled as she accepted the goddess's hand and they entered the event hall. Ranma had someone else to talk to after all.

* * *

Noire really didn't know what to make of the day. No, of course she knew what to make of it. It had been a disaster. She had only managed to further confuse the martial artist and drive her away. She paused for a moment as she got ready. The event was a tech expo showing off all of Eden's original technology. The main event would be her giving a demonstration on some of the new technologies being co-developed by some Lastation companies and Eden's own developing firms. While she hated to admit that none of it was as impressive as what Planeptune produced, it was still fairly impressive. Then again, it only made since no one could quite beat Neptune's tech. The goofball had taken a very hands off approach in the matter. This would seem good until you realize the dangers involved. Last she checked, Planeptune had three rogue, fully sentient A.I.'s bent on world domination made and put down in the span of one year. This was five years ago and she could still remember the clean up involved. There were something like fifteen such events that years and those were only the ones REPORTED. The money funneled into cleaning these messes were also why Planeptune's tech didn't make it the richest nation. So much of it was being eaten by their R&D either for development costs or repairs. It was a miracle they weren't bankrupt. Then again it was probably thanks to Nepbull that the dolt was even financially solvent. Then again, Noire had to wonder on if that was still true or ever a fact since Histoire kept Planeptune's finances a closely guarded secret. She really hoped Neptune would go on being fine. She blushed a little as she found her thoughts returning to a certain purple haired goddess.

"Noire! It's almost time," Uni interrupted her older sister's thoughts from beyond the door. Noire had asked her to remind her when it was five minutes till. It never hurt to have extra warning especially when she could be distracted.

Sighing as she recollected herself she called out," Thinks Uni, I'll be out there soon!"

"Ok, see you then sister!" came her little sister's voice one more time followed by the sound of retreating footsteps. She returned to preparing.

* * *

Ranma and Blanc had some fun going through the event. Her thoughts from before meeting the Goddess of Lowee still sat at the back of her mind. However, she didn't want to ruin this time by bringing up her concerns or reminding her that Ranma would be leaving this world some day. For now, that day wasn't today and these matters could wait. It's not like putting things off ever hu- oh, wait! They had… They were probably just a fluke though.

"Ranma, it's almost time for the main event," Blanc interrupted Ranma's thoughts. Ranma couldn't help but think she heard a sour note in her voice. When she looked to Blanc's face, she noted that it was now her usual mask of serenity. Well, if you ignored the focused look of her eyes, the lack of a smile, or the beginnings of the dark aura. Ok, so not really serene at all Ranma noted with a nervous bead of sweat. Not wanting to cause a scene at Noire's event, she followed Blanc's determined lead into a large, brightly lit room with a stage that lacked proper seating, thus forcing the audience to stand. The stage itself was blocked by a black curtain.

Once the room was full and the doors closed, the curtain began to rise. This revealed a number of devices of varying sizes. Some on display on table while others so large as to stand out on the floor on its own. None of this, however, is what had Ranma's attention. No, that would be the literal goddess that stood upon the stage. She was in HDD and wearing a black dress and see through black shawl. While simple, it was still beautiful to the pigtailed goddess and drew her attention.

Noire now stood atop the stage and looked out into the crowd confidently. She was about to begin her introduction speech when her eye caught sight of a familiar pigtail near the front. Their eyes met for an instant. She's not sure how long she would have stayed transfixed upon them had not her sister walked out a moment later to break her out of it.

"Sister?" Uni looked askance as she lightly touched her shoulder. Noire's mind quickly came up with a way to avoid losing face as she reached over and brought her younger sister in a one armed hug around her shoulders.

"Just play along," She whispered to Uni earning a confused look before Noire spoke to the crowd," Sorry for the wait, but I had to share this proud moment with my sister as we present to you all the combined efforts of Eden and Lastation these past months!"

* * *

Ranma found herself focused on Noire the entire time. Blanc never moved or spoke a word as the event continued. She distracted herself by keeping focused on the demonstrations themselves. She had to admit that it was somewhat impressive, but it was clear to her that Eden's strengths would be in its diversity, style, and secrets. It would never compare to Planeptune in tech or the production capabilities of Lastation. Nor what its economic and magical prowess stand up to what Leanbox and Lowee showed. No, Eden's strength showed in its adaptability. At least as far as what they have to offer in the eyes of the world. More than likely, it would become known as the land of warriors with all the fighters she's noticed around here. That or for all the women. Now that she thought about it, they still hadn't explained how that came about to Ranma.

Eventually the event drew to a close. Blanc knew what she had to do. She braced herself for it as she latched onto Ranma's arm. She marched forward to the stage dragging a confused Ranma along. Noire looked on in shock as others looked on in confusion.

"Goddess delivery!" was all the warning anyone got before she twisted about taking Ranma by surprise and through the Goddess of Eden to the stage. The martial artist easily regained control and landed next to Noire only to turn and look back at Blanc in shock and confusion," We'll talk later. You two need to **now** ," she commanded with emphasis on the last word. Noire nodded in understanding as she led the redhead away with Uni following. This left Blanc to keeping anyone else from following and prying into a private matter. She decided hammer diplomacy would be too blunt. So she brought out the axe instead…

* * *

Soon enough Ranma found herself in a room alone with Noire while Uni stood outside to act as a guard. Of course, this meant that Ranma felt the full return of her beating heart and blushing face. It was even worse as she now felt ice in her veins. Guilt for feeling this way with a second person. No! she physically shook herself in denial as she pointedly buried the thought that insisted she knew what these feelings meant. She HAD to love Akane. She had KILLED for her.

Noire felt the pinpricks of nervousness as a slight blush came to her face as she was alone with someone whom only earlier confessed to her, if unknowingly, and whom she now knew she liked… along with a certain other individual. This thought deadened the feeling a little and actually allowed her to focus again. She took a breath," Ranma."

The young goddess jumped at this as if startled for a moment then she began," Look, I'm really sorry 'bout earlier… I just am finding it harder and harder to keep my head lately it's just-"

Ranma was cut off as she found herself in an embrace from Noire of all people," No, I should have been more careful. For that I am sorry."

For a moment, Ranma froze at the contact. She wasn't expecting at nor had she adjusted to the idea of such contact. She was on edge until those last words came to her. She felt some relief flow through her, but then, her nervousness from before the hug came back in full and she could feel the blush once more. She wanted to say something, but a lump had formed in her throat.

Noire felt embarrassed at the moment and was thankful there was no one else here to see this. After a little bit, she realized Ranma was a little stiff. She figured it was from nervousness," Everything is fine. I know i-it can be hard to deal these feelings. I've had to fight them for quite a while, but I can say that it feels so much better to embrace them."

Soon after she felt a timid hug and stayed like that for a time.


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: don't own characters or settings. Now I'm off to-

go back to writing

AN: Ok, a few things to go over as usual. First is a warning that there is a bit more exposition meshed in here again. One bit of it might not go over well. Not sure though. I might be wrong. Also some moments that might seem a little ooc from Neptune. I was actually considering if I should change it or not. Then I remembered why I had her acting this way and left it like this. Again, I know I'm forgetting something to say here, but can't remember what it is. Just be warned this chapter felt a little rocky. I am not entirely confident of it, but I do not want to lose my momentum in writing this story. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

"Sheesh, you four sure know how to make a scene," Neptune piped up during breakfast the following morning. This earned her three blushing CPUs and one candidate. Neptune was currently going through some social media sites and finding them flooded with videos from Noire's event," And Blanc, nice throw!" she laughed as she freeze framed it during said toss. The current video actually showed two angles that caught Ranma's and Noire's expressions side by side.

"Can it, Neptune!" Blanc fired off once she overcame her initial embarrassment. She then heard some gasps nearby. As it had turned out, the twins just learned about it along with Nepgear as the twins huddled around her and her gear.

"That's awesome!" Ram declared as Rom nodded in agreement. Blanc could already tell that trouble would be brew later. She groaned at this.

"Aw, come on! It's not that bad. If anything, this'll blow over. It's not like anything compromising was caught on camera," Neptune continued to go on with a happy go lucky smile. Noire and Ranma winced at the reminder. Neptune had meant it to be a shot at Blanc, but only then remembered what she had gone through at the convention. Not that she completely forgot; she just failed to think about what she was saying. Unbeknownst to the purplette, she had frozen for a good thirty second at this realization," Ooh…" When she did recover, she noted that Blanc and Vert were both looking at her strangely. One seemingly confused as the other looked on almost conspiratorially… _Ah nep it!_ She quickly gave off a laugh and began her retreat," Well, that was fun, but I have an event to set up. Later!"

This said, she dashed out of the room. She could hear her sister yelp in surprise and calling for her to wait, but Neptune needed to get out of there and fast. As much as it hurt, she wasn't going to guilt trip Noire over this. She honestly only meant to tease. As she dashed by RED, who just came out of a room along the hall, she heard a shocked yelp.

Neptune, was too busy dealing with her own thoughts. The fact was she could not deny she loved her Nowa. She really did, but Neptune didn't know what to do. She really had no idea. It hurt her to see anything that hinted at the two getting together. It also hurt to think she could possibly ruin it for them. The problem was she had no control over what was going to happen at the tournament. The contract she had made so long ago was actually going to be put into effect. She seriously only made it originally as a joke to appease a certain "fatherly" figure back then. She even had plans to call it null and void over the years at such a time as when it would interfere with her life. She only kept it as a memento.

However, it had all backfired in the end. She could no longer get rid of the document since she knew it was still valid…

* * *

RED had just gotten done with some early morning paperwork in preparation for the tournament. She just needed to check in with her Wifey Ranma to make sure of a few things, including getting a feel for the situation with two of the other goddess wifeys. Things were moving along much more quickly than she thought they would-

It was that moment that a purple haired CPU wifey came dashing by and causing her to cry out unintelligently, fall backwards in surprise, and drop some of the documents she was about to go over. That wasn't too bad since she had stapled them together in groups since this kind of thing tends to happen too often in Eden. Adaptability was crucial to living here. No, what had her attention were the signs of tears on the fleeing wifey's cheek. As the Eden Oracle recovered, she let out a sigh. It looked as if they had managed to make progress in one area only to lose ground in an area she wasn't even sure she had in the first place. Normally that wasn't too bad in since you would think it meant a possible loss of nothing, but in the case of feeling, they could very well become negative if there was no ground to begin with. She was going to have to look into the matter.

After gathering her papers, she took out her cell phone to call Nisa.

* * *

Ranma and the others looked at the exit through which Neptune performed a flawless Saotome Secret Technique. She didn't know what to say about that and scratched her cheek sheepishly in thought. The scene wasn't quite over as Nepgear hurriedly finished her breakfast and tried to follow her sister out. It was at this moment that RED showed up. Ranma was pleased to note that there was no accident as RED actually dodged the purple missile that ran by her. This earned the oracle an applaud from the twins. Not missing a beat, RED smiled happily as she bowed to them. Blanc was smiling warmly at the distraction. Ranma had to admit that despite RED's quirks she was a good person.

"Good morning wifeys!" she greeted as she came out of her bow bringing a shudder to the pigtailed goddess," Sorry to bother you all, but I have some things to bring up about the tournament with Ranma before she goes anywhere."

Ranma sighed thankful that the dreaded "wifey" was not used as part of her name," Ok, so watcha got for me?"

"Well, we have a little issue to go over and some things that just need to be confirmed," RED answered as she flourished the paperwork in her hand causing Ranma to stiffen apprehensively," Don't worry! These are for me. I just need to go over some oddities that are popping up. This should only take a few minutes."

Ranma's shoulders sagged in relief," I guess it can't hurt, but doesn't Gust usually help you? Where has she been?"

"Here and there, she got taken by surprise as the festival started to really get under way. Turns out that there were some conflicting international laws when it came to certain insurance claims popping up. Namely on who to hold accountable for some of them. Still have no idea how Gust wifey missed checking into the public indecency articles before this festival got underway," RED explained in a somewhat professional manner while at the last remark before continuing," Last I recall though, she got pulled away for a special negotiation. As to what it is, I have no clue since Gust left without sharing details."

"Oh my, that doesn't sound promising," Vert noted.

"Wait! How are you having international law issues!? All of those claims should be covered by Eden law!" Noire demanded in outrage at what she thought of as incompetence.

RED chuckled at this nervously," Would you believe me if I stated that the incidents in question started in Eden and ended in other nations?"

"How!?" asked a dumbstruck Noire. The insurances only covered what happened in civilized areas.

Ranma whistled at this," So how many were sent into orbit versus accidents and the breakdown on the causes?"

The other goddesses present looked a bit confused as RED smiled," Fortunately only two cases of someone being sent into orbit by the same person."

"Hm, sounds strong. Hope he's in the tournament," Ranma commented.

"She is, and she's looking forward to keeping her promise," RED replied to which Ranma smirked in realization," Sadly we don't have an exact number on the accidents. They just keep cropping up. Interestingly it seems even across the board. Martial arts techniques gone wrong and R&D mishaps in both magic and technology. We're just lucky we covered them all with insurance plans or we'd be in worse trouble!"

Ranma only shook her head as a thought suddenly came to mind," By the way, it came to me recently that this place seems made for me. Isn't that going to make it harder to find a replacement?"

RED stopped for a moment noting the troubled looks on the others' faces," Well, I don't like to think about it, but it should be fine. This nation's strength is in its adaptability. It should be easier…"

Ranma frowned at this. She was glad for the news, but it was clear the topic had set a darker mood. Ranma thought for a moment and hit on a thought that might fix that," Wait, if it's so adaptable, why are there so few guys?"

The scene then cu-

Ranma's arm flashed out on pure instinct as if grabbing something while looking at everyone. The change of topic seemed to be work as everyone looked to Ranma.

"Wait, no one has gone over that yet?" Uni exclaimed in shock. Meanwhile Blanc recovered from her own shock of Ranma using O.S. in such a way and decided that was time she and the twins left to have some fun. So she grabbed their hats, turned HDD in the time it took them to realize she had and flew off with the twins in hot pursuit. She had to admit it was fun to turn the tables every now and then.

It was this escape that reminded Noire she had yet to talk to Blanc about yesterday. She figured it should be easier to arrange a meeting if she left now. After all, she and Uni did not need to be here for this. Even if said meeting could be arranged in texts. That being the case, there were only three left.

Vert giggled at the scene. She had no reason to leave and this would only make it easier for her purposes. This being said, she could help but find Noire's and Blanc's escape comical. This should be fairly interesting.

RED looked to vert to see if she too was going to be leaving. Noting her humor and relaxed stance, she turned back to Ranma with a smile," Oh that? Well, I'd have to say it's a good thing wifey Vert is still here because I'm not an expert on part of what happened."

"Wait, there's more to it than just your ad campaign?" Vert asked curiously.

RED nodded quickly in confirmation pulling out a brochure for Eden. Ranma read through it and seemed slightly annoyed as Vert looked on curiously.

"… This doesn't make sense!" Ranma stated after a minute," It says everyone is welcome so long as they have passion. It even outlines what that means and uses positive tones!"

Ranma knew this for a fact. Tones and phrasing for official use was something Noire had gone over as part of helping Ranma do better in public speaking and reading. After all, say the wrong thing or missing the tone of what's written in any document could be problematic. She had done her best to drill this into Ranma saying it was especially important for some reason.

Vert seemed confused for a moment," May I see that?" she requested. Not because she hadn't read the brochures before, but that Ranma's description did not match what she had seen before. Ranma nodded in response and handed it over. To Vert's confusion it was the worst of the brochures responsible for Ranma's demographic," Ranma, this is NOT gender neutral! It practically invites all women to Eden exclusively!"

"And if you were a man you'd be saying that it challenges you to do so in a fairly intimidating manner, as if challenging you to battle the goddess. Female combatants have said they felt both messages from this and all of our other forms of advertisement," RED stated as a matter of fact. Vert looked at her curiously while trying to understand what RED was getting at. Ranma on the other was not so speculative.

"What are ya talking about! No way I woulda missed that! Noire hammered stuff like that into me!" She declared in indignation.

RED smiled before answering," You are not wrong, Ranma. This was written exactly as you said."

Vert smelled something fishy going on at that moment," My dear, would you care to explain?" To which she was answered with RED pulling out a phone and pulling something up on it before handing it to Vert. It was nothing but text. Very familiar text that she soon realized was what was written on the brochure. More interestingly, it was written as Ranma had said. This meant that the tone was changed in another way," You used the pictures in a way to change the message?" She questioned in confusion. She would have picked something like that up. All of the goddesses should have noticed this. Advertising analysis was an important skill even after peace was made since it became one of the main forms of battle in the Console Wars of this era.

Ranma quirked a brow and was about to comment but was interrupted by RED," We found it impossible not to unless we omitted all images of Ranma. There is no arrangement that changed this. The reason this brochure has so the most bias is because it contains the most images of the Goddess of Eden."

"That makes no sense!" Vert raised her voice. Not in anger but in alarm. Ranma now looked confused at the proceedings," Are you saying that the problem is with Ranma- wait! You must mean…" Vert fell silent for a moment as she thought about what was being said.

After a few minutes, Ranma became a little impatient." So what's the deal? How is this my fault!?" She demanded in annoyance. This shook Vert out of her thoughts.

"Well, if I'm understanding this correctly, it's might have been unavoidable from the very beginning," Vert answered putting Ranma on edge," Would you mind answering a few personal questions?" She received a questioning glare," Please, it would shed some light on this," Ranma stayed on edge but finally nodded for her to go on after a moment," You _like_ girls, correct?"

"Of course I do," Ranma replied in annoyance .

"Ok, and I'm going to guess you don't like guys in the same way," Vert received a flat glare for her troubles," I thought so, describe how you feel about them?"

"They disgust me!" Ranma answered almost immediately due to a couple unfortunate memories in the past.

"I didn't mean romantically, dear. I meant what is your response when you see a random stranger," Vert calmly corrected.

"Oh," Ranma eased up a little as she thought about it," Well, I guess I start by figurin' out if they fight. Then if they seem good enough, I want to fight them," she said thoughtfully as she held her chin.

"And if they don't fight or are too weak?" Vert urged on.

Ranma shrugged with her response," Not really worth my time. Sure I'll put up with 'em. Heck, I might even befriend them if they seem like an ok guy."

"Hmm, that might explain it," Vert said at last to Ranma's confusion," Ranma, as a goddess we are born with certain general values. One of them is that we love both men and women," Ranma looked a little shocked at this and looked alarmed," Don't worry dear, you aren't changing, this situation should be proof of that," Ranma settled down a little," The reason for this, however, is part of our purpose. We love those who follow. That means we are capable of being attracted to one degree or another to those who follow us."

"Okay, but what's that got to do with the lack of guys?" Ranma asked a little confused.

"Well, just as we need to love those who hold faith in us, our power draws those who are best suited. Anytime there is something that invokes the image of a goddess, it gives off a small aura. Not a compulsion mind you, but a sample of what it means to follow that goddess. The reason so few men came to Eden is because they are the one's who accepted your challenge, so to speak, or looked past it to the martial arts incentives," Vert lectured.

Ranma took a moment to sort through what had been said," So wait, the only guys that will come to me will only do so because they want to fight me?"

"Yup," RED chimed in. She wasn't big on the whole studying thing. She only cared about what was necessary to serve as Ranma's oracle. That's why most of what Mina had said about the topic had flown over her head at the time. She figured a goddess would know about the faith stuff and she'd just bring up the base facts to one with Ranma present. She was quite happy with the result. However, it was time for her to get back to her original task," Now Ranma, we need to go over these files quickly."

Ranma sighed at this," Ok, what's up?"

"Well, first there have been some concerns of the use of weapons in the tournament," RED began her list.

Ranma groaned at this. She personally felt they were a crutch, however, she was not about to handicap a bunch of styles from using their schools main focus," Only restriction should be the martial arts weapons restrictions. So none of that automatic, explosive, or whatever crap."

"That's not a problem. The problem is there are concerns about not substituting for the more lethal weapons at the tournament itself," RED pointed out.

"That? I already have that covered," Ranma waved off the matter.

"Ranma, you haven't exactly been forthcoming on the matter…" RED pushed on.

"Uh well, it's a bit confidential," Ranma noted as she glanced at Vert. This caused the green goddess a little bit of surprise as she caught it.

RED sighed as she realized what Ranma had done," You really should be careful," was all she said before letting the matter slide. She guessed it would work out if they just reassured people and gave a public demonstration of whatever was in the works," The next problem is the fact that we have some individuals with odd circumstances."

"What kind?" Ranma demanded pointedly," It better not be idiots using free power ups…"

RED sighed," not quite, there are reports that some individuals are requesting to change certain classifications like what classifies as a weapon or combatant."

"What's the issue?" Ranma was curious.

"They're trainers of certain creatures, fighters whose style relies on a living creature in one way or another, or who were found to be using magic to supplement their style," RED summarized.

"Hmm, trainers can't compete, but they can act as a coach for a single combatant, combatants can classify the creature as a weapon so long as it is proven the combatant is the one doing the fighting and their helper gives no more help than what falls under weapons and equipment restrictions, and the last one should be checked by a magic expert to confirm that the magic in question falls under the same restrictions," Ranma said thoughtfully. A part of her wanted to ban these practices outright, but she found herself curious.

"Are you sure about the magic part," RED pushed," almost everyone found with this issue would be disqualified."

"Tough luck," Ranma snapped out.

"Uh Ranma, you might want to reconsider that," Vert cut in," I know what style she's talking about and it's dying out because it is not classified as pure. Any magical competition looks down upon them for resorting to physical force and subverting magical means. As for tournaments like your own in the past, they were either severely handicapped or ostracized."

"Then they should make their own tournament," Ranma shot back.

"Ranma, they have and are almost gone because of it. Since _obviously_ they couldn't make it as mages or fighters so it's a place for failures," Vert pointed out with dripping sarcasm," Their training is specialized and just as harsh, Ranma."

Ranma did not like how that sounded at all. She thought it over for a moment, before turning to RED," Basic gear and weapons only with exception of the minimum requirements to uses their magic, have an expert make sure they aren't using enhanced stuff and set up physical tests with the understanding that they have to use their body and can only use magic to help them to that end," Ranma decided before glancing to Vert's approval.

"Alright, I'll come up with something," RED noted happily," There is one last oddity to go over. There's been a strange request attached to Tekken's entry," Ranma looked on in confusion," Her sensei wishes to fight you should you defeat Tekken."

"Why not join the tournament?" Ranma asked while Vert shared in her confusion.

"According to the request, he does not wish to interfere with his student's promise. However, he states he is honor bound to fight you unless Tekken beats you first," RED answered," I would have said no if this weren't someone you had made a promise with."

Ranma thought for a moment on the matter before sighing," Great, I seem to have pissed someone off… Well, tell them I accept if it really is a matter of honor."

* * *

Neptune had managed to lose her sister by going through the illusion thing surrounding the place. She stood at the outer edge and watched Nep Jr. franticly charge off in the direction of the event. She needed a moment to collect herself. She also needed a moment to think. She had to come up with a better plan. She had previously decided to let things go on as a sort of practical joke, but she now realized two flaws in her plan. This would totally nep off several people and hurt others. This had never been the intent of course. She had not realized how close Blanc and Noire had gotten to the harem master. She winced at the thought of what Blanc was going to do to her if this continued. More painful though, she didn't want to hurt Noire… Actually, that was a good question. Would Blanc be able to inflict more pain? After thinking on that for a moment, she shook away the thoughts on her likely demise.

The other major flaw came in the matter of planning. She had not made a proper out. Then again, she always figured that Ranma would lose. This thought actually lightened her mood a little as she considered it. Why in the nep was she so worried? There was no chance of victory for Ranma! No, that wasn't the problem. The problem was if her complicity in the matter were to be found out. Sheesh, what had made her go along with this little plan to begin with!? The worse part was that she doubted she would find her greatest follower before the match. He was always hard to find until he allowed you to. Neptune just knew he wouldn't allow it since he likely figured she would try to talk him out of his coming battle.

After a moment of dreading, she came to a realization. She was a goddess. She had all the time in the world to fix her bridges after this, but she was wasting good time better spent with her sister enjoying what may be her last moment of joy for a while. Afterall, she only had to escape before Blanc pulled out the axe.

That thought in mind, she made her way to where she knew Nep Jr. would be looking for her.

* * *

Ranma was currently in the company of her friend she had made back during the convention. They were currently enjoying an exhibit. It was a demonstration of the technology being developed for an upcoming expansion to one of Vert's favorite games. It was stated that the equipment was going to be a cross console accessory for all consoles to maintain the availability of the game to its users. Right now, however, none of that really mattered as Ranma took on Vert's charge. It wasn't quite like the fight they had before. Ranma had quickly found to her annoyance that her real world abilities did not translate into the game's world. She was also working on adjusting to the controls for the special skills system as she executed the monk class's counter attack skill. At that moment her body seemed to follow a predetermined pattern. She quickly realized she had missed the timing since she forgot the game had a delay and needed advance set up where as she was used to waiting for the last possible moment. She quickly cancelled the skill to dodge away. She was rewarded with a slash of red pixels as her opponent's spear grazed her right arm. The red bar displaying her health started to drop as the word "Graze" showed up at the edge of her vision. Vert had warned her the system was different from battle in the real world and made strategy, tactics, and timing more important.

Her eyes narrowed as she ran through the list of skills she had. She had a second as Vert recovered from executing a skill. Sure, she could attack right now, but that would leave her open to reprisal. Not to mention that Vert could take the damage easily where as Ranma couldn't. She had an idea. Ranma used a movement skill to reopen the distance quickly. She charged up a ki blast skill. The more time it charged, the more damage. These were obvious meant to be used as an opener or in tandem with effects like stun or paralysis. Vert smirked at this as she threw her spear and made a charge with her shield. Ranma had not expected the throw, but she didn't allow it to ruin her plan. She canceled the attack, causing her to lose half the ki channeled in an explosion of dust from the simulated ground. It was a secondary effect for cancelling the skill and why Ranma used it. She immediately activated the counter skill. First, came the spear that fortunately only grazed her for half of the damage of a normal attack. Fortunately the counter skill was a melee only ability. Then came Vert charging in only for Ranma's counter to go into effect with Ranma sidestepping the attack to deliver a randomly selected counter attack. In this case, she spun around to deliver a head blow with a kick. This caused the first bit of real damage dealt to Vert in the fight and stunned her for a few seconds. As for the advantage of the counter skill, it had no recovery time. Ranma followed up with the strongest ki blast she could manage in point blank before the stun wore off. This time there was no dust cloud and Ranma realized she was in trouble, Vert had only taken an equal amount the damage she'd dealt.

"Nice juke, dear," She complimented as she struck with a skill of her own while Ranma was still recovering.

* * *

Soon after, the two of them were walking away. It had gotten a little closer once Ranma had finally adjusted to the controls, but Vert had won in the end with over half of health. They were on their way to a place to eat. Vert was leading the way.

"You know we can have a rematch once the game comes out. There's no need to be mad," Vert tried to appease.

Ranma grunted in frustration," I look forward to it, but I'm telling ya the combat was unbalanced. We were supposed to be equal, right?"

Vert sighed at this. She and Ranma had both given their own opinions to the representative. Where she had been focused more on the game play aspect and its translation to a virtual environment, Ranma had been more analytical about the combat side. She had to agree that the recovery time system was a little constraining. She also agreed that certain mechanics had been more counter intuitive to real combat, but she didn't mind that as much since most of that had been brought in from the original game," Ranma, I understand you were bothered by the differences. I agree that it was not a good arrangement for player vs. player, but that is because you played a new class against an established one. Not to mention that tanks are the current meta," she noticed Ranma's confused look," Tanks are characters who are made to take more damage than others. I thought Uni had played games with you."

"Yeah, but she called them vanguards," Ranma explained," Not to mention most of her games were single player. She was usually coaching me as I tried them out."

"I see," Vert commented neutrally. It looked like she might have to have a word or two with Noire. Not that she was mad, but she did want to make sure the sisters were spending some time together outside of an official capacity. Not like she was going to fly off the deep end like a few months back. She honestly had no idea what came over her," Well, I'm sure the developers will improve the game before they release it."

"I hope," Ranma shot back. It was clear to Vert that Ranma had quite the competitive spirit," So where going now? That that battle buffet place?"

Vert noted Ranma's hopeful expression and felt a twinge in her heart that she would have to dash it," Not today dear, we're going to a much simpler locale."

As it so happened, it was just around the corner. As they turned on it, Vert pointed it out. It was a small restaurant. Nothing special about it really. However, Ranma began to drool a little once they came close enough for the smell to hit her. It was an establishment that specialized in okonomiyaki. Whatever disappointment Ranma had before was soon replaced with joy as they entered. Soon enough, they were seated and Ranma was happily devouring her meal.

"So Ranma, I know that you agreed to accompany me today, but is there anything you would like to do?" She asked as Ranma reclined after finishing her meal. She seemed a little surprised at first and hummed for a moment as she thought.

"Well, there is one thing I'd like ta do," Ranma finally began," If ya don't mind, I'd like to go somewhere and just let loose fer a while, ya know?"

Vert grinned at this as she had a feeling she knew what the pigtailed girl really wanted, but she felt a little teasing was in order," Why whatever could you mean? We're in the middle of a grand festival with everyone celebrating. How much looser can you get?"

"Uh well, it's just that I feel a little pent up is all," Ranma replied ignorant to her verbal misstep.

It was then that Vert acted affronted," Now Ranma, I know I tend to come on heavy, but I'm not a loose woman to be another notch on your bed, oh harem master."

Ranma backed away and nearly fell out of her seat next to Vert as she flailed her arms about as in warding," Wait a minute I didn't mean- I'm not like that!"

Vert soon found she couldn't hold her affronted act for much longer before she started to giggle much to the confusion of her redhead companion," You are so easy to tease dear. It's adorable. I know full well you just wanted to go out and fight for a bit. I wouldn't mind one bit."

* * *

Afterwards, they went to the guild and grabbed a collection quest that took them away from the festivities. They had just finally finished the quest. When was looking a little happy that she got to go out and fight for a little bit. However Vert knew she wasn't fully satisfied and had an idea for settling that. She went HDD. Ranma was alarmed by this turn of events and started to look about as she tried to find the threat that would have made a goddess go HDD. Vert smiled wickedly as she contemplated drawing the moment out. She declined the thought and pointed her weapon at Ranma.

"Ranma, I know for a fact that there's no way you could be satisfied with just that. Not to mention it's been a while since I've unwind in this manner," Vert declared to Ranma and noting the growing recognition of what she was getting at," You know, there was a time when goddesses fought quite often. We still yearn for such battles, but we hold our friendship too tightly to reopen such hostilities. How about a spar?"

Ranma nodded and decided to go HDD as a sign of respect for her friend. Thus the battle began almost immediately. Normally one would expect a stand off of some kind, but that was not the case here. They both went into action almost immediately. Vert calling upon the winds themselves in a burst of speed. This wasn't like her charge before, however, as she stopped halfway through it and thrust out her spear. This sent a high speed wall of air smashing into her fellow goddess. Ranma had been clearly trying to meet her charge early to rob it of its deadly momentum. She was now taken by surprise when she realized her partner had a counter for that. Worst for the red goddess was that she was only just recovering from being thrown back by the sudden wind when she narrowly dodged the spear from Vert's follow up charge. However, she was unable to grab it to use as leverage as she had before. Vert had angled it down to thrust the spear into the ground. She swirled about it quickly to catch Ranma in the ribs with a kick. Fortunately, the wasn't as strong as Blanc's. Much of the force of the charge had been bleed off in the spin to deliver it. While fortunate for Ranma, it still hurt and sent her tumbling away. She recovered to a crouch just in time to deflect a thrust. Ranma smirked.

Vert had managed to catch Ranma off guard early on, but her eyes widened in that moment when she realized her mistake. She had failed to keep Ranma off balance long enough to keep her from grabbing her weapon. Which Ranma did to devastating effect as she rolled back and kicked up at Vert forcing her to let go or take serious damage. She chose the latter since the fight would be over if she lost her weapon. She held through the blow as best she could, releasing her spear with one hand once she her ground. With that hand, she released a blinding gust of wind at the unprepared goddess. The quickly broke away. Vert to recover and rethink her strategy. Ranma to avoid possibly follow on strikes as her vision recovered. She was surprised to notice this occur faster than usual.

* * *

The sun was starting to set as the two tired goddesses lie beside each staring up at the sky. They were no longer in HDD. They were also sharing the same satisfied smile. Vert was happy that Ranma had fun, but she couldn't help but feel Ranma was holding back somehow. Not so much in skill or power, but Vert noticed Ranma wasn't using too many of her abilities and that she had nothing new. She had to wonder at that since didn't match what she had read. Ranma had more than enough time to make something new. All the same, she was content. She had a fun day with Ranma and- That was when she noted the setting sun. She still had some things she wanted to do. But first, she needed to get herself and Ranma back to Eden. That in mind, she rolled over to pull Ranma into a light hug. She had had to stop a giggle as she felt the goddess stiffen," Well, that was fun, but we need to turn in that quest and then there's one more thing I wanted to do today," She reminded as she released the pigtailed girl before slowly getting up and stretching. While it wasn't necessary, the action felt good after strenuous activity.

She noted that Ranma had a light blush as she muttered something while getting up and doing much the same. Soon enough they were on their way.

* * *

Ranma was curious as to what the event she was being dragged to was all about. Vert kept winking to her and saying it was more out of curiosity for herself and a surprise for Ranma. She figured she'd go along with it since it actually had been a fun afternoon. As it was, they came to a large open area with a stage. It was apparently some kind of outdoors show. Eventually the stage lit up and Ranma was surprised to find Neptune and Nepgear in HDD on stage together. Not only that, but they were singing and dancing together to a cheering crowd. Ranma's first thought was that they were pretty good as could be attested to by the rest of the audience. She also noted that they were actually kind of cute. All together she found the show to be enjoyable.

As for Vert, she had two goals in mind when she came here that night. First and foremost was to see Nepgear's performance. She was so adorable up there. It was also a lovely moment of sisterhood for the two goddesses of Planeptune. Vert smiled at this.

As for her second goal, it was to gauge Ranma's reaction to Neptune. She seemed to be enjoying the show. However, the reaction she was looking for was a bit weak. This didn't bode well for RED's goals. At least as far as she could guess.

Once the event finally drew to a close, she decided to pose a question to Ranma as they left," Ranma, I'm afraid I must confess to something. I've been rather lonely here at the festival until today. Would you please accompany tomorrow?"

Ranma didn't even hesitate as she smiled and answered," Sure thing!"


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: The usual, don't own jack, see him ov*click*- ok, I don't own these characters or settings.

 **PLEASE READ AN FIRST**

AN: Hey there funny that this chapter only took two days. Anyway, let's get to talking about a few warnings and misconceptions I am admittedly guilty of causing with my poor handling of certain matters *looks at chapter one and cringes*. I'm a bit of an idiot sometimes. So let me say it here. I may not intend to write a story where Ranma and Akane are the final pairing, but I completely misrepresented her in chapter one of this story. Worse, I took it to a certain extreme in a later chapter with the "trauma" when I had Ranma suffering share deprivation and weakening her in all ways including the mind. So I handled things fairly poorly. I admit that. This chapter is going to contradict this misrepresentation. Honestly, I want to just go back and redo those segments of the story, but if I did that, I would end up rewriting the whole thing and likely never finish the story or move on to the other numerous stories I wish to write. So please accept that this as a bit of a retcon on the matter(in which the situations weren't as extreme or just extenuating circumstances) and an apology for my atrocious mishandling of Akane. That said, on with the fic! Hope you enjoy!

* * *

It was night, the goddess wifeys had come back. RED couldn't wait to look at the recording of the goddess wifeys' concert. She really missed some of the freedom she had before the she took up the job, but she did not regret it one bit. She was making more headway in her eternal search than she ever had before. True, she hadn't found love quite yet, but she was finding small bits of affection and friendship that was hard to find or maintain in her travels. Now she reclined back and considered what else needed to be attended to that night.

It was then that she heard a knocking at her door. She smiled as she called out," Come in!" to which the door opened to reveal her justice wifey," Ah, Wifey Nisa! You ok?"

Her justice wifey only sighed before replying," I'm fine. I just going over the information you asked me to get along with the report from the observer you asked for Lady Neptune."

"Oh, what were you able to pull up?" RED demanded excitedly. She needed this information dearly. Between the contract reveal and the reaction that morning, she had discovered her plans had not accounted for Wifey Neptune properly. To be more specific, she had focused too much on Wifey Ranma. The justice wifey, however, seemed uncomfortable.

"RED, I know you mean well. I even hope you convince Ranma to rethink her stance on staying, but…" Nisa began before she stopped to shake her head," This doesn't feel right. You have me sending out spies, RED! SPIES! This is wrong."

"And yet you still did it my dear wifey," RED smiled to the glare she was receiving. She was also thankful this office had silencing wards on it to prevent noise from leaving the room," You did it because you feel the same as I"

Wifey Nisa seemed a bit confused about this," What?"

"No wifey, even you could not be so dead set on justice to ignore love," RED pointed out," You went and ordered someone to keep a watch on Ranma all on your on. That was just as wrong," RED pointed out as she stood up to walk around her desk.

"But-" Wifey Nisa squawked out in alarm only to be cut off by a single finger pressed to her lips.

"Let's face it, wifey. We love them to one extent or another. Even if you want to hide behind justice, you need to admit it," RED spoke softly as she pulled the stunned wifey into a hug before whispering on," We need to do these things. Even if… I became hated after this, I need to do this. I am the seeker of love and, as far as I have ever known, anything is fair game in love."

The justice wifey soon broke out of her shock at these words as well as RED's hug. Her back against the door, she replied," L-look, take these- I gotta go."

That said, the now blushing wifey dropped a folder and dashed from RED's clutches. RED only shook her head at this," Still didn't have enough affection points," she bemoaned to herself as she knelt dow to pick up the report.

A little while later, she found what she had missed. The spy hadn't turned up anything, but there turned out to be some interesting articles buried on the net. The most recent of which were four years old. This coupled with some corroboration from some of the friends she made during her travels pointed to a little detail. Wifey Ranma stumbled into a love triangle with Wifey Neptune and Wifey Noire. She sighed as she wondered how to fix this.

* * *

Ranma was now leaving the Basilicom with Vert. She was curious on what kind of fun she would find that when she heard two voices call," Ranma!"

She stopped to look back to find Blanc and Noire standing side by side. It seemed a little odd to her that they both called out like. More strangely, she felt her heart swell at the call. The way they had called her had lacked the anger she was used to from someone yelling her name. It seemed filled with a familiar emotion. One that spoke of need.

As she considered this, the two women came running up to her and Vert. All the while, Vert smiled gently at the seen and uttered something that Ranma could barely hear. She decided ignore it since she figured it wasn't meant for her.

It was Noire who spoke up first," Ranma. Would you come with us? There's something we need to talk about."

Blanc nodded in agreement. The two of them were both blushing a soft pink. Ranma thought about it and didn't know what to say. She had made a promise to Vert, but her heart felt like it was sinking again at the thought of saying "no". Sure it might only be a few minutes, but Ranma felt that, if she went with them, she would find it harder to leave one of them. It was during this indecision that Vert spoke up," If it is what I think it is, could you two please wait until tonight?"

Blanc's blush quickly turned to an angry frown, complete with a dark aura, as she replied," Look here-"

Blanc cut off at finding a hand resting on her shoulder. She shot a glare to its owner, Noire looking seriously at Vert, who took control of the conversation," This about a few days ago. It's fairly important."

Vert smiled before shaking her head gently at this and speaking," That is the problem Noire. I also need to talk to Ranma about that. I never resolved the main issue. I would think you'd want Ranma to be better prepared."

"What's this about?!" Ranma demanded. The feelings from before were now buried in annoyance at being left out of whatever was going on.

"Trust me, it's best we talk about this. Though I would like to ask if you have been thinking about what I asked you two days ago?" Vert inquired gently to which she received a thoughtful look followed a sheepish nod. She should have known," Try and think about it for today. It's important we talk about it before you have your chat with these two-"

"I am not going to stay quiet Vert," Blanc spoke darkly," What is your game?"

Vert shook her head and decided best to disarm the fight that might break out. It was fun to relieve a little stress from time to time, but this simply was not one of those. This decided, she shifted a little to lower her height as she came face to face with her verbal sparring partner. Blanc became tense at this and seemed ready to strike until simply closed her eyes and smiled for a few seconds. She opened her eyes to find Blanc still a bit stiff, but the tension was gone as she looked in confusion. That's when Vert struck. Before anyone could react, she had the smaller goddess buried in her bosom and whipering something that only her captive could hear. The girl went completely limp as she handed her off to a confused Noire before taking an equally shocked Ranma's hand dragging her along in a mad dash saying," Hurry before her lights turn back on!"

Ranma quickly regained her senses and was keeping up as she yelled out," What the heck ya say to her!?"

Vert only giggled at this merrily. Ranma shook her head to this and gave a silent prayer for Noire's safety. She felt guilty about leaving the two of them, but a promise was a promise. It had nothing to do with fleeing a possible danger zone.

* * *

Noire was currently in a bit of a predicament. She had no idea what Vert had just pulled. The very idea that she would pull something like that was well… She thought about it for a moment and realized that maybe it wasn't so shocking. Now she was left wondering what kind of time bomb she had been left holding. She couldn't flee herself, or she would make herself a more viable target for dropping Blanc. Then again, she was probably a target already for being a witness. This realization brought Noire to a decision. Too bad she didn't have the time to act on it.

* * *

Blanc could not believe what had just been said. She couldn't even bring herself to except it had been said at first. This had led to her total shutdown. Now her mind was ramping back up and she found she had no choice but to accept that it was real. _She- she_ _…_ _HOW DARE SHE! That bitch knows I l-_ Her first thought as she computed what had been said died as another struck home. Of course Vert knew she lo-likes Ranma. She wasn't in the market for just any one thing. Blanc was furious. She was not sporting a crimson blush. It had to be pure fury.

"Noire, what did you here?" Blanc asked quietly. She could now feel the hands holding her tremble.

"No-nothing! I swear!" Noire promised desperately.

"… I'll take your word for it. Now let me go so I can kill the bitch and we'll never talk of this again," Blanc spoke darkly as she changed to HDD. She almost immediately felt Noire's grasp go and hear a thud. She ignored this as she flew off. She had no actual intentions to commit deicide. She just needed to go somewhere to be alone for a bit and let off some steam.

* * *

It was a little later, Ranma and Vert had spent some time going from stall to stall and just enjoying the festivities. When asked if they should be hiding, Vert's reply was to simply laugh and assure Ranma that everything would be fine. Now they sat on a bench at the north edge of the city as they watched the various events while enjoying a break with some tea.

"Ranma, as much as it saddens me to interrupt our time together with this, I do believe we have some things to discuss," Vert broke the peaceful silence between the two. Not a total silence since there were the sounds of festivities surrounding them. Ranma sighed at having to let the moment pass, but she nodded in agreement since she was curious about what was going on. Vert smiled to her. She felt a gentle warmth from that smile, but she paid it no mind as her friend continued," With all the distractions from before, I doubt you've had much time to think about your father. So let's start there. Ranma, how much do you care about your father?"

"Hm, well of course I care about him. He's my pops," Ranma replied bluntly as she scratched at the base of her pigtail.

"I figured that dear, but I meant how much?" Vert clarified only to earn a blank stare to which she sighed," Ok, if your father was sick?"

"Well duh, I would worry!" Ranma declared.

"Good, and what if he was being attacked by someone?" Vert pressed.

Ranma snorted at this," depends how bad it was. I'd bail him out if it looked life threatening. Otherwise, he probably had it coming," she finished with a bit of irritation.

"And how much do you trust him?" Vert went on.

Ranma almost laughed at this," Not even half as far as Nabiki could throw him at this point."

Vert thought on that before asking," And was that different at some point?"

Ranma nodded and emphatically replied," Yeah, that was before getting' cursed and finding out about the multiple engagement contracts."

Vert considered how to phrase her next question," Hmmm, and who would you consider as just a friend?"

"Well, there's Ryouga, he's a pretty good guy. Good fights, and has some honor and dignity. One of the few who didn't try to beat me during when I was at my weakest… Then again, he has turned on me a few times, abused a certain promise, used a couple underhanded tricks, blames me for just about anything-" Ranma started listing off only to be interrupted by a hand on her shoulder.

"Ranma, that's more than enough. Tell me about someone you consider family besides your mother," Vert were a neutral mask. She was wincing inside as she recalled what she had read. There was no way she wanted to touch on the subject of Ranma's mother. Not that much had been mentioned. All she found mentioned in the book was mention of an agreement that was eventually fulfilled only to hang over their relation. As much as she wanted to know, she knew there had to be more to it and it could ruin this little "talk".

Ranma had to think on it for a moment before answering," well, I guess Ukyo, Nabiki, and Kasumi…"

"I only need one of them dear, let's focus on Ukyo," Vert cut in quickly. She had her suspicions.

"Well, I used to only think of her as a friend when we were kids. 'Course, back then I thought she was a boy… Pretty much she came back when I was in Nerima and she revealed we were engaged. Strangely, she was always the friendliest and helped me out a lot. I also trust her a good bit. Can still remember that sauce mess… I should have been honest from the start," Ranma admitted.

"Well Ranma, I think see the problem," Vert said. She was glad she had snuck in a few things that would be nostalgic to her pigtailed companion over the past few days. It had worked wonderfully to help Ranma better focus on what she needed for this little session," Ranma, would you say that you compare your feelings to others while using your father as a base?" Ranma looked at her for a moment in thought before shrugging," I think it's the case Ranma. Your relation with your father has been hurt by his actions. Now don't fret dear, I said hurt, not ruined or destroyed. You still care for him, but I'd say not as much as what other's would. You lack trust that he destroyed and you would only go so far as to save his life. Ryouga has clearly done something that bothers you greatly, but because you see some good qualities in him, you consider him a friend where as I and others would note him as an acquaintance."

Ranma stayed silent as she listened to this discussion unti she started to understand where it was going. She did not like it and said as much," Wait, Ukyo has always been a friend and is like a sister to me!"

"A friend, yes I would agree. In fact, I'd say she's a bright point in your life. Ranma, you were on good terms with your father when you first met her. She was your friend back then. When you met her again after so long, your relation with your father had already been hurt, but you found you still cared about her just as much. Though I think it might have been strained if she pushed the engagement bit. Wasn't it?" Vert explained what she felt was the key to the issue. Ranma's relations were based on association. This was true for most, but pair that with a lack of social interaction outside a very small group and personal misunderstandings could sprout up.

Ranma bit her lip in thought. She wanted to deny this, but she knew this was right. Ukyo had frayed on her nerves in her time in Nerima. It hurt when she abused her friendship to push for the engagement. Finally she nodded. It was at this moment that she almost jumped once more as she found herself in another hug from Vert. She felt the same warmth from the last time. She also found she didn't want to break it.

"It's alright dear. Now we're coming to the hardest part," Vert broke off. These words filtered down to Ranma as she considered them for a moment. Then she stiffened when she realized where Vert was going with this. She found she couldn't break from the embrace. Something in her didn't want to. Her struggles only brought her into a tighter embrace," You love Akane." Ranma suddenly froze at the declaration before looking up to Vert's smile as she was released," As a sister."

* * *

Nisa was currently on break. Not that justice ever rests, but she knew that she needed it after that morning. Just thinking about it caused her to bl- She shook herself out of it. RED was wrong, and as much as she wanted to deny it, she was guilty as well. After escaping, she quickly called off her minders. She couldn't believe what she had allowed herself to do. It was as she considered this while sitting at a small café, the missing official herself plopped down at her table.

"Gust wants to know what the crazy one's been doing while Gust has been… Negotiating certain arrangements," Ranma's bunny themed friend demanded. She looked quite crossed. Nisa slumped forward onto the table and sighed.

"You'll need to be more specific. I think I might be ready for the loony bin myself," Nisa bemoaned.

"Gust already has a report from your department," the small girl stated with a level glare," You have been instigating certain problems and abusing power. Spying on friends like that is not good. Gust will hear why after you tell Gust about **The** crazy one."

"She's been doing her job mostly. Well, except for when she asked about what you already know-" Nisa began explain.

"Gust only knows some of it. What was in the report and why did she ask for it?" the girl cut in shrewdly.

The former hero of justice sighed," There was some kind of scene yesterday morning involving Neptune. She ordered an investigation, and from what I saw, it was uncovered that Lady Neptune and Lady Noire likely have unresolved romantic feelings dating back to before ASIC even showed up."

"Gust sees…" Eden's advisor and accountant stated," Thing's have gone bonkers while Gust has been gone," Gust commented with furrowed brow," This does not sound good with the reports Gust got when checking in at security's secondary HQ on the way here… That can wait. Now tell Gust why you went along with this mess."

* * *

Ranma was feeling better now that she was conscious and fed. It had taken Vert an hour and a roaring stomach to realize what Ranma needed to pull through this. That had been a little bit ago and it was now the afternoon. As they walked along, Vert seemed to be considering something. Sadly, Ranma's attention was diverted when she walked into someone.

"Hey! Don't you wa-" The voice cut off when Ranma's eyes met those of Noire," Oh, er-"

The two of them remained silent for a moment with no idea what to say. Vert only shook her head at this mess and decided to help things along," You know, it's considered rude to gawk… Then again, I'm not too familiar with the rules when it's mutual. All the same, good afternoon Noire. Good to see you in one piece."

"You!" Noire yelled in anger," I don't know what you were thinking with that stunt, but Blanc was furious!"

"Oh really? Did she come hunt me in earnest, or did she fly out of Eden with a red face likely go monster slaying?" Vert sniped back.

"She- wait…" Noire started as she thought about what she had seen," Now that you mention it, fury doesn't do that to her."

Vert hummed in thought as Noire clearly started to come to a conclusion. Ranma simply had no idea what was going on," What do ya mean? She seemed as pissed off as Akane on occasion."

"Dear, that was more embarrassment than anger," Vert pointed out," Oh, I'm sure she tried to reason it or play it off as such, but let's just say I have a certain understanding when it comes to her," She giggled ," Moving on, I must say it's good timing on your part Noire. Would you mind calling up Blanc for a little meeting?"

"I could, but why do you need me to?" asked the Goddess of Lastation.

"Well, isn't it obvious? She really will be angry if I did it," Vert stated in a slightly haughty tone.

"Wait, I thought you said she wasn't furious," Noire questioned as she pulled out her phone, brow arched.

"Oh, that. She'll only be angry if it's me to call her right now," Vert explained.

"Uh, how do you know her so well? Ya always seem to be fighting," Ranma asked in confusion.

"Oh, that? Well, you do tend to learn things about people when you spend enough time arguing with them," Vert pointed out.

"Only Vert," Noire sighed as she called Blanc.

"Oh, and be sure to tell her I'll be there dear," Vert added," Otherwise she'll be mad at you and me."

"Only Vert," Noire grumbled as she heard they call pick up.

* * *

Blanc was… She couldn't decide if she was happy she would get to talk with Ranma or angry that Vert was going to be there. She sighed at the thought and let her anger go. Ranma was definitely more important. Plus, Vert can dream all she wanted, but she wasn't going to- to. Blanc's face went crimson red once more. She really hated how that woman seemed to know her so well. It even pissed her off knowing she used Noire as a go between in arranging the meeting. Blanc sighed again. Vert wasn't all that bad. She knew it. They could even be civil at times. At the heart of it all, she just couldn't get past her pain of envy. However, Blanc needed to for Ranma, and she was thankful Vert had been thoughtful enough to give her a chance. Ranma was the main focus of this meeting. It was with this thought that she met with the others at the entrance to Eden's Basilicom.

She nodded to them as she approached," It's good to see you Ranma, Noire… and Vert" she greeted the last in irritation.

Vert smiled at this and greeted her," I'm happy to see you come dear."

Ranma smiled at her and waved as Noire gave a short bow in acknowledgement. Blanc smiled a little and decided she was happier just to finally settle the matter with Ranma. She joined them as they made their way into the barrier improperly. She had to admit. This was probably the best place for a private discussion. If you don't go in as a group, you would be split up. This meant no one could simply follow them in here and spy… They'd just have to wait by the right entrance. At least it insured privacy within the barrier.

After walking in silence for about two minutes, the group stopped. Ranma then pulled out a blanket for them to sit on and Vert brought out a thermos of Tea for everyone. Once everyone was situated, Ranma couldn't wait any longer," Ok, so what's the deal!?"

It was now clear to everyone she was a nervous. Blanc chuckled at this," It's to settle a matter between you, me, and Noire."

Ranma seemed to be a bit more nervous now," Y-you mean-"

"That the three of you are in love," Vert stated simply as she took a sip from her tea.

"I am NOT KUNO!" Ranma screamed instantly, only to find Noire placing a reassuring hand on Ranma's shoulder before shooting Vert a glare.

"Ranma, that man was an ass who lusted after two women. He never tried to learn about them and only cared about claiming them," Blanc declared before drinking some tea. It was then she realized Vert had mixed a little something in. True didn't have normal bodies, but they would still feel the simulated experience unless it conflicted with their duties. She quickly looked to Vert who pointed to a second Thermos that had "Ranma" written on it before shaking her head and drinking more and smiling.

Ranma had been too distracted to catch this byplay as she continued to mumble on," Not Kuno not Kuno not Kuno," it was then the grip on her shoulder firmed and she was brought face to face with Noire.

"Ranma, did you feel this way when we first met?" She asked gently, to which Ranma shook her head," Then you're not this perverted jerk."

Ranma calmed down a little at this," What?"

Ranma felt a small hand grab her own as she reached for some tea. She turned to find Blanc staring at her for a moment. If she had looked past her, she'd see an empty tea cup, but she did hear Vert giggle. Ranma was thrown off by the staring. Not the she minded looking at Blanc. She was cute, but- Ranma would have tried to throw the thought out of her head with a good shake, but her attention was immediately centered on Blanc.

"You are in love, and I love you," was all she said as she pulled herself into an embrace under Ranma's arm and nodded off with her head leaning against her as she snuggled. Ranma was shocked.

While Ranma seemed to have gone catatonic for the moment, Noire got a suspicious look on her face as she picked up her own cup and sipped before spitting it out. She turned to Vert angrily to find she was smiling and taking a picture with her phone," Oh Blanc, you shouldn't have downed it so quickly. I added a little extra to yours," Vert sing songed quietly so as not to draw Ranma out of her current state too quickly. She noted Noire's glare," Dear, I needed something to take the edge off so to speak, and you two needed something to loosen you up or you two would be tiptoeing around the matter as long as you could."

"You still shouldn't have tricked her like that," Noire fired off angrily before taking a sip.

"Do you think she drinks tea that fast? She downed it on purpose," Vert replied admonishing her fellow goddess before giggling," I think she over estimated herself though."

"Wha?" Ranma finally made a sound as her brain came to terms with the cuteness currently attached to her. As much as she wanted to deny it, she enjoyed it and found herself pulling Blanc into a more comfortable position.

"I'd say you've come to terms with the fact you love us?" Noire questioned drawing Ranma's attention. She slowly nodded. There was a bit of guilt on her face as she did so," Good-"

"Because Noire loves you too," Vert spoke up with a Cheshire grin.

Ranma became horrified when she noted that Noire was blushing and nodding in slow agreement. It was the fiancé brigade all over again!

As Ranma became more horrified to Noire's confusion, Vert decided to step in yet again," Ranma, they're not going to fight over this. If you haven't noticed, these two have been very civil with each other."

Ranma didn't seem to believe her, Noire gulped and decided to take a plunge. She hugged Ranma from her unoccupied side and whispered," We agreed to let things go and to get along."

Vert looked on the scene with a smile before pulling out a set of tickets," Thank you for keeping me company today. I have my own event to check in on. Take these and spend some time together."

* * *

Later that night, Neptune joined a crowd for 5pb's concert. Unlike her and Nepgear's show last night, Vert was sponsoring the event and bringing in a celebrity for it. It didn't really bother Neptune all that much. Not like much else could really bother her. Something was wrong. It had been wrong since the convention. She was now becoming more aware of it as she spent her time alone that day. Yes alone, her sister was hanging out with the other candidates that day. Something about Blanc and Noire having something to take care of.

Well, it was probably for the better. She felt as if she was gaining some perspective with what was wrong. It was as if something had been manipulating her. She wasn't sure what it had been, but she knew she was getting better. She was almost back to her good ol' nep self.

As she was thinking about this and waiting for the concert to start, she noticed Nep Jr. in the crowd. She pushed her way through and found her sister and the other candidates. They were huddled around her sister's gear looking at something.

"What's up Jr.?" Neptune chimed as she pushed her way to her sister," Hey guys!"

It was when she noticed something odd. Nep Jr. and Uni were blushing and the twins were seemed to be happy about something. Her sister's expression changed to one of worry.

"Uh-well, we were just looking up somethings while we were waiting for the show-" Nep Jr. tried explain as she quickly tried to hide her little device. Neptune smiled. She smelled something juicy.

"Really, well that's good and all, buuut," She drew the last syllable out as she dashed past her sis and snatched the gear," Big sister has some super-vising to be doin'!"

"S-sisteeeer!" Nep Jr. cried as she desperately tried to grab her possession back. Neptune only laughed as she twirled out of reach and turned the screen back on. She immediately felt her heart drop and froze. It was too late for Nepgear to stop her sister. There on the gear was a picture sent by Vert showing three goddesses sharing hugs. One of them was her Nowa.

"Umm, sister-" Nepgear began timidly in worry. She had her suspicions about her sister and Noire. She did not think it would be good to show that to Neptune. Then she noticed her sister trembling.

* * *

Not too far away in the crowd, the three goddesses from a certain picture were enjoying their time together when they had a certain familiar laugh.

"Wow, she seems to be doing better," Ranma noted.

"… Well it is Neptune we're talking about," Blanc pointed out.

Noire only laughed nervously. She felt a twinge of guilt in her heart. Ranma wasn't the only one in their little group that loved two people…


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: Don't own the characters or settings, now let's move on here before Jack here shoots me-*click* oh, come on! "Jack": That ain't my name

AN: Hey there! Got to say I am so happy to be releasing another chapter so soon. A few things to go over this time. *Ahem* I never intended to infer that Nisa was developing feelings for Ranma. That is not the case. That was me not checking for different interpretations of that scene... Now that I have addressed that, let's move on to some topics for this chapter. First of all I should mention that I do have something going on here that is being made more obvious this chapter. I want to stop a certain interpretation before it starts. What ever is happening is not creating false feelings. I intend for the romance part of it to be real. I should also mention I am not confident in my ability to write romance and would love any feedback that can help me improve. Now, to move onto another less important matter. Yes, there is a certain cameo. I was asked about if I could make one and decided to use it to help spice up a certain boring part of a scene. Just note that I only use cameo's if I feel it could make sense or fits. Also, I am sad to say that it looks like this arc has a couple more chapters to go. There was no way I could fit everything I had planned for this tournament into a single chapter. I'm not sure if I can do it in two, but don't worry too much, I'm not planning on boring you all by showing off a bunch of filler battles. Anyways, I'm sure I'm forgetting something else, but I've held you up long enough. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Ranma was up early that morning and happily training in the dojo of the Basilicom. She had enjoyed how things had gone last night. It actually made her happy that Blanc and Noire weren't fighting. Making her even happier was that today was the big day, the tournament. She had been looking forward to it for quite some time. She and Tekken had a promise to fulfill.

It was as Ranma was preparing for the day ahead that another scene was playing out in a guestroom at the Basilicom. Nepgear was playing Vert a visit.

"Well, dear, what brings you here?" Vert asked with a large smile. She always loved it when she got to spend some time with the candidates. Though it was becoming clear this wasn't going to be a regular affair. Nepgear seemed more timid than usual," Come sit here and tell big sister Vert everything."

Vert patted a cushion next to her at a small table. She may find Eden novel, but she was missing the amenities of home such as beds and chairs. Nepgear seemed to relax a little with a smile and took a seat. Once she sat down, Vert waited patiently for the girl to collect her nerve and speak. After a half minute of indecision, she finally started," My sister, Neptune, saw that picture you sent me."

"Picture?" Vert asked. She didn't recall sending something like that. However, she worriedly pulled her phone out and checked.

"Yes, the picture of," Nepgear seemed to blush at this," Ranma, Blanc, and… Noire."

Just as the usually timid girl dropped that bomb, Vert found she had indeed shared the picture. The problem was that she didn't remember doing it and knew she hadn't drunk that much last night. Wait, she had some wine after the concert to help fend off the loneliness," Tell me dear, when did I send this?"

Nepgear looked at her in confusion," Before the concert- Oh my goodness!"

Vert's guest had been interrupted and surprised when she found her should grabbed firmly as Vert checked her phone for a time. It matched. Vert was worried now," Was there anything besides the picture?"

"N-no, we just got the picture. When I opened it, we, the other candidates and I, were surprised," Nepgear quickly explained.

"Something is wrong here. I never sent that picture," Vert stated at first only to add," Not on its own," as an after thought. She would have teased about it first or something. It would be bad form not to hint at what's coming or the wrong people might see it-," How did Neptune take it?"

Nepgear's fidgeted nervously," W-well, she was laughing…"

Vert seemed a bit confused. Neptune always seemed to be an odd one. She was predictable sometimes, but she had a propensity for finding new ways to befuddle such predictions.

* * *

Noire was up already that morning. She was a hard worker and made sure to rise early to perform her duties. Each morning at the festival, she spent a couple of hours on her laptop. She went through mail from Kei, checked in with various news sources, glanced for rising social/media trends, and sent fresh orders to her scout initiative. Speaking of which, she had just gone over her scout system with Neptune a week ago.

Uni would sometimes get up to help out, but she would sleep in a little if she had tired herself out. This wasn't often, but festivals on the scale of Eden's tended to do just that. Speaking of which, Noire glanced over to her sleeping sister and allowed a gentle smile to grace her lips. It was this thinking, however, that made her recall last night. Uni had been quiet and seemed troubled by something. It was as if she was trying to keep a secret from her. Like that time she and Nepgear were caught playing that butler game. They never did confess where they got the game. Neptune simply let it slide while declaring "She needed to learn about that stuff sometime! At least it wasn't from me, talk about awkward~!". This memory brought a snort followed on by a smile from the CPU.

It was then followed by a twinge of guilt. She needed to talk to someone- It was at this time that she received a call on her phone. Fortunately it was already setting by her laptop on silent mode, she noted as she reached for the now lit up device. It wouldn't do for something to wake her little sister from her dreams after all.

"Good morning, Vert," she answered.

"Greetings, Noire," Vert replied from the other end of the line," There's a bit of a problem that I thought you should know about-"

"Really, I would have never guessed with you calling me," Noire interrupted in a flat voice.

"Now dear, it's not polite to interrupt no matter how obvious the statement. After all, it wastes more time in the end," Vert chastised.

"Whatever, please hurry up, I have thirty minutes left to finish up my morning routine before Uni get's up and there's still quite a bit left to go through," Noire shot back in irritation.

She was met with a giggle before a quick clearing of Vert's throat from the other side of the line," Very well, I just thought I'd let you know that the candidates got hold of a picture I know I didn't send. Now they and Neptune are aware of your little relation with Ranma."

Noire froze up for a moment and paled," H-how did they get this picture?"

"… It was sent from my phone-" Vert confessed.

"Dammit, I thought you said you didn't send it," Noire hissed into the phone while trying to keep the volume down.

"I didn't. I am going to contact Nisa after this to find out if there's any evidence left as to who pulled this stunt. I just wanted you informed before you came to breakfast with _everyone_. Now I have to go do that, ta ta, dear!"

Noire sighed at the brewing disaster and shook her head at the mess only bothering to give a "goodbye" before ending the call. She looked at the work to go through on the computer and closed it. It would have to wait.

* * *

Blanc was not happy. Oh, she was happy about how things had turned out the previous night. She enjoyed spending time with Ranma. It was the twins. They had ambushed her last night before bed. Not with the usual shenanigans. Oh no-

~~Flash~~

Blanc was happy as she entered the guestroom with her little sisters in tow. There was a gentle smile on her face. All said, it had been a good day. There were some annoyances such as whether Vert had meant what she whispered to her. She immediately shook her head at this as she buried the memory as best she could before she had a full body blush. _Damn that-_ she cut the thought off again with a sigh. She had Vert to thank after all. A part of her hated to admit it, but she knew she wasn't good when it came to emotional things. She even tried reading some very specific books to help her with the matter and was still not confident on the matter. It wasn't until very recently that she felt her relation with her sisters had improved and she had Ranma to than you that.

Sadly, she had allowed herself to be swept up in her own thoughts. This was a critical error with the twins about. She tripped over something and fell atop her futon. Looking back, she noted it was a pile of books. It was far too late for this-

"Blanc and Ranma, sitting in a tree~," Ram sang happily.

" G," Rom did her best to take the next bar.

"First comes love~"

"Then comes marriage~"

"Stop!" Blanc demanded angrily. The twins looked to one another, nodded, and dashed away, Blanc in hot pursuit," You asked for it, hammer time!"

~~Back~~

Ok, maybe it wasn't as bad as some of the things they've pulled. Blanc admitted, but she was pissed to be teased like that just before bed. The goddess didn't notice she had a light blush at the moment. It was bad enough when they were just running around spreading that little rumor. Then again, it wasn't a rumor now. Blanc thought as she and the twins entered the dining area and took their places. Her blushing had ceased. Something was wrong. Noire and Vert were silently eating as was Uni and Nepgear. Ranma and Neptune had yet to show up. More notable was the pace at which Noire was eating. She was trying to polish off her meal as quickly as possible.

She turned to Vert. She just knew the goddess of Leanbox was in on whatever was going on," Did something happen?"

This break in silence caused Noire to give up on silence and she began to furiously eat her meal. It was nothing compared to Ranma's usual pace, but it was something for Noire.

"Noire, this might be a touchy subject, but it's no reason for you to abandon your manners," Vert admonished only to get a glare for her trouble before bringing her attention to Blanc," There's been a breach of security on my end. Nisa has started the investigation and RED should be contacting Chika right now."

"What would that have to do with Noire?" Blanc demanded. She did not like the sound of this.

"Someone other than myself gained access to my phone last night and sent a picture of your little intimate moment to Nepgear, which was seen by all of the candidates and Neptune,"

That explains the twins actions last night. She thought she should be blushing at the moment, but Blanc found she had come full circle. She should have known Vert would make a screw up like that. Vert might be good at making plans, but something usually went wrong when used in real life. She could still remember how haughty she had been about the release of the Leanect. That didn't go well. Not to mention the red ring mess. Or- Blanc just sighed and took it as business as usual. At least it seemed to be contained if it only got out to the goddesses.

It was then that she noted that Noire had stopped eating and was staring at her in shock," What?"

"Y-you aren't angry about this mess!?" Noire yelled in shock. The others in the room looked on curiously while Vert simply drank her tea.

"Why should I be. The leak is a contained matter that I think I'm fine with and this is Vert we're talking about," Blanc pointed out, taking pleasure in the sound of sputtering and hacking coming from the victim of her snipe.

"Now that was uncalled for," commented said victim as she tried to regain her usual demeanor and dignity. Blanc decided to enjoy this little moment since she had the upper hand.

"Leanect," Blanc shot off with a smirk. Vert started to lose her composure once more.

"Let's not dwell on the past," Vert replied as she regained her composure to return fire," After all, you have a much longer list of failures in the realm of VR."

"Speaking of failures, red rings," Blanc countered," Enough to make several corps powered by rage."

Vert considered what avenue of attack would work. For once she decided to not escalate the matter. Sure, she could have gone on, but she recalled there was a bit of an issue that needed their attention. She sighed," As much as I hate to admit it, you win this round. I do not wish to sink such depths."

Blanc smiled and started eating the food that had been brought in while she and Vert were arguing. As for Noire, she was just finishing her meal. It was at this time that Neptune made her appearance. She was wearing her usual, goofy smile.

"Good morning!" She greeted happily only to be met by awkward staring," What?"

Blanc wasn't the first to recover from staring, but that was only because she wasn't staring in the first place," They're that way because of last night."

Neptune giggled at this," Oh that? It sure took me by surprise. I mean good ol' lonely heart falling in love? Leave it the harem master!"

Blanc sighed at this growing confusion," Did you all seriously forget that Neptune and I are the oldest, active CPUs in Gamindustri?"

"Yuppers! If something like this could get me down, then I would have been sunk back in the day!" Neptune declared happily. It was then that something caught Blanc's attention. Neptune was acting like her usual self, more so than she'd recall in over a month. Though that was only an after thought, Neptune had strange look in her eye. It was hazed over slightly.

"Neptune," Blanc spoke, drawing Neptune's attention.

"Yeah?"

"Your hair-clips aren't on straight," Blanc stated simply. There was a bit of confusion as Neptune looked about to find a mirror. She quickly left before anyone could say something.

"Her hair-clips!?" Noire demanded incredulously.

"She may be a goofball but tell her she screwed something like that up and she'll rush about to fix it," Blanc pointed out," Now someone mind explaining to me what is wrong with her?"

"Uh, well," Noire fidgeted as she blushed.

Vert sighed," Blanc, you mean to tell me you never noticed anything about Neptune and Noire?"

Noire was looking down and blushing. The glimpse Blanc saw of her face as she took this position was one of guilt," No, I've been too occupied with things on my side."

Vert shook her head at this. Blanc has always been busy. Whether it be her dealing with her duties and hobbies, but most of all she was busy fretting over how to handle the twins. It took her a few seconds before she came up with the simplest way to put it," Noire, Neptune, and Ranma have formed a love triangle with Noire as the focus."

"Seriously, that goofball actually in love?" Blanc questioned," Just great…"

"I'm Back~!" Neptune sang out as she dashed to her place next to her sister," Thanks Blanc, the right one was 1 millimeter higher than the left!"

"S-sister?" Nepgear asked in worry," Why are you so happy today?"

"Why, is my little Nep Jr. becoming forgetful?" Neptune teased," Today's the big day my fate is sealed! I'd rather enjoy it than waste my time worrying how it'll all go!"

There were a number of alarmed reactions. Blanc's being the most extreme as she pulled out her hammer before demanding answers," And why haven't you mentioned this to the rest of us!?"

"Uh-well, it's just," Nepgear tried to speak up.

"Not you, her!" Blanc demanded as she pointed her at Neptune.

"Oh, well I kinda didn't think of that," Neptune answered thoughtfully before giggling," Not that there's anything you all coulda done. I'm being nepped by my own words after all!"

"What could you have said that could be that dangerous?" Vert asked in morbid curiosity.

"No, that's not important," Noire cut in as Neptune was about to reply," Why are you going along with this in the first place!?"

"Silly Nowa," the CPU of Planeptune cooed," I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm a Nep of my word! If I just went back on that you'd all have to call me Tune!"

"I'd happily call you anything if it meant you'd be ok!" Noire blurted out as she grabbed her crazy friend.

"Aw, how sweet! If'n ya weren't with Ranma I'd take that as a confession!" Neptune responded cheekily," Oh my~! I didn't think you were that kind of-"

There was a loud crash from Blanc's hammer as it smashed the floor. She noted with interest that the floor was repairing itself, but she ignored it," Neptune, cut the crap. What is going on?"

Neptune chuckled nervously," Uh, well Vert, oh hey Ranma!"

Everyone but Nepgear, who was more worried for her sister, turned as one to see no Ranma. They then turned back to find Nepgear staring at an open entry leading to the kitchen.

"Why didn't you stop her!?" Noire hissed.

Nepgear seemed startled at this, but it was Vert her stepped in for her," You do realize you're asking her why she didn't help in forcing her sister, whom she loves, to do something she clearly didn't want to do?"

"Sh-she wouldn't be happy with me…" Nepgear added.

"Aren't you more worried about her life!?" Uni demanded.

Blanc decided to put an end to the mess," Enough! Now-"

"Hey guys, did I miss anything?" Ranma called as she came into the room," Heard a crash from the dojo."

* * *

Elsewhere, there was a very different meeting in motion. RED was sitting behind her desk as Nisa and Gust stood in front of her. It was clear that things were on the tense side of things. Nisa noted that Gust and RED were staring at each other intently.

"It's good to see you back Wifey Gust!" RED broke the atmosphere with her usual cheerfulness.

"Gust has been back since yesterday," Gust stated in annoyance," Gust has been busy sorting out your mess. The game ends here."

"Aw, but I love games!" cried out RED in a childish manner complete with pout before breaking into a grin," So I think I'll keep playing."

Gust shook her head at the current situation," Looks like Gust has to take the crazy one down after all."

"Uh, well," Nisa spoke up nervously as RED stood up from behind her desk still smiling with twin swords in hand as Gust drew out her own weapon. She knew this situation was wrong. It was at this moment where she had to put her foot down," Please stop it! Both of you! This isn't right!"

The two highest officials of Eden under its goddess paused to look her. One stared in curiosity. The other was glaring.

"What is wrong?" RED asked," We are only settling what is right. Are we both wrong?"

"Wha- No, it's just that-" Nisa was starting to feel a severe head ache.

"Gust was afraid of this," Gust spoke up," Gust was warned that the madness was spreading."

Nisa was confused as she noticed her prinny guns were in hand. Something was telling her that she needed to," No!" she cried out as she tossed the guns away. What was driving her to fight? She knew that they should be friends and working together. She KNEW.

As RED stared confused, Gust nodded in relief," RED, see what this is causing? Gust was warned. This plan needs to stop!"

"It can't be stopped now," RED answered as she stared at Nisa who was now leaning against a wall holding her head," If we back out now, no one will-"

"No, you're going to fail! Everyone needs to stop!" Gust broke in," Most of all, this plan!"

"But it will solve everything!" RED declared quietly as she continued to stare at Nisa. It was at that moment Nisa collapsed. She wasn't unconscious, but she also was no longer in pain. This was wrong. She had been trying to force Ranma to a goal Ranma had refused. She actually had spies assigned to friends. She was actually ready to fight both RED and Gust to put an end to something.

"We- we need to do something," Nisa groaned out," Something was controlling me."

RED stopped as she thought about it," What could do this?" She asked. This wasn't love. This wasn't what she had wanted. She wanted to help her wifey goddess. She was feeling pain," But Ranma is happy, why?" It was then she realized the issue. Her eyes had been blinded by logic. She then realized she was losing whatever battle she was fighting. It all seemed to make sense," Wifey, hit me and don't stop until I'm out."

Gust smile as she did just that. It was only after RED was out that Nisa realized something," So how are we going to stop a plan we don't fully know?"

"You don't," Gust answered with a smile," You just rest," she ordered as she turned her eye to the office. She took note of the shelves and the computer. She'd have to start with what she could find on the shelves. The computer should be password protected.

"So what is wrong with us?" Nisa asked as Gust began walking to the closest shelf.

"Gust did not understand it all. Sorry," was all Gust said as she began her search. Nisa had a sinking suspicion Gust was hiding something. She had to wonder how the girl learned about what was going on when she was beyond the boundary.

* * *

The tournament would begin soon. Ranma was excited and couldn't wait, but she currently found herself annoyed as it turned out that she was going to have take care of the formalities alone. For whatever reason, RED and Nisa were out of commission with Gust being too busy with something. Fortunately, Ranma wouldn't be alone at the judge's panel. Interestingly enough, all of the CPUs volunteered. Which brought Ranma's thoughts another matter, Neptune, who according to the others was not acting normally and in danger from an unknown threat.

"So let me get this straight," Ranma began to clarify as she was being dressed in the kimono from the opening ceremony," Neptune made went and made a promise that is now endangering her life and she refuses to go back on it?"

"Yeah, it's crazy, we need to-" Noire began.

"Do nothing!" Ranma declared firmly as she suffered her own bit of indignity from behind the screen.

"Ranma, that seems a little harsh," Vert pointed out as Noire gawked in confusion at Ranma's demand. It was then that Ranma finally stepped out from behind the screen.

"Look, I'm not trying to be mean, just think about it," Ranma argued in a resigned matter. It hurt to see Noire sad, but she wasn't going to budge on this. Blanc was also there, but she hadn't said a word on the matter," She's made a promise. She's refusin' to go back on it. Whether it's 'bout honor or not, it doesn't matter. I've been in her place before, and believe me, it hurts when those around ya don't trust you."

This last was declared as Ranma reached out for Noire's shoulder in a reassuring gesture. She wasn't confident in the action, but she had felt it the right gesture in this situation. It had helped her these past few days after all. Noire still didn't seem like she was done however," Ranma, she isn't you. She's…"

She trailed off as Ranma smiled at her," 'Course she ain't, I'm the best! While she's the proactive of proactives!"

It was at this moment that Blanc sighed as the others giggled," Ranma, it's protagonist."

"Oh," Ranma noted sheepishly as she scratched her cheek.

Noire sobered quickly as she tried to argue," Ranma, it's just-,"

It was then that another hand found her shoulder. It was Vert this time," Dear, I think I understand what Ranma's getting at, but I think it would help to know the _whole_ story."

Noire seemed as if she was going to rebel on the matter at first. However, she regained her self control as she looked into the eyes of one of the people she loved. She gulped, but if it could help her case, she would confess. She'd rather have two people she loved alive regardless of the price," Ranma, I'm sorry, but there's a bit more to this…" Noire gulped back a developing lump in her throat before going on," Neptune means a lot to me. In fact, I haven't told her just how much… I love her as much as I love you."

Ranma was stunned at this declaration. It hurt a little to realize that someone she loved also loved another, but then she realized that this was what Blanc must have felt about Ranma's own feelings. She collected herself and shook her head as she answered these feelings and Noire's worries," Then if she feels the same way, interfering will only hurt more. Just trust in both of us. Heck, fer all we know, this is all a misunderstanding and she has some weird contract."

Noire seemed like she wanted to fight, but her shoulders sagged after a minute," I just worry that-"

It was then that Noire found herself in Ranma's embrace. Not by any initiative from the pigtailed goddess's actions. It was started when a certain goddess of the lands of serenity shoved the unsuspecting Noire into Ranma," Just give up already. If you continue, you'd only cause more trouble."

Noire felt a blush blossom upon her face at the sudden contact and embrace, but it was soon replaced by fury as she turned her head to glare angrily at the instigator. That action and fury died when she felt a second, smaller pair of arms encircle her waist," We'll all pull through this, Neptune is Neptune after all."

While the three were having their little private moment, Vert looked on. She was smiling on the outside. It was very cute to watch, but at the same time, it hurt her. She wished dearly to be a part of it, but she knew that she couldn't force the matter. She would have to wait.

* * *

Ranma was now standing at the center of the stage arena surrounded by the masses up in their seat. She was a bit nervous, but she took a deep breath before bringing the microphone up to speak.

"Good morning- er is it noon now?" She begin while wearing her signature smirk. She was greeted with answering mirth to her little stumble," Eh, doesn't matter does it? We're here for the- what, it is still morning?" She stopped and looked at someplace just out of sight and shrugged," Guess that's my stomach telling me I didn't eat enough. Oh well," She shrugged," It's great to see you all today for this event. The final one for the first ever founding festival of this new Nation. This past week has been a lot of fun for everyone and it wouldn't have been such without everyone working together. I thank all of you for your hard work and dedication in making this nation. For deciding to leave your homelands for this new venture in life, and trust me when I say that this will be a fun ride. Even when this festival ends, the adventure will not. Even in several generations from now, your descendants will be carrying on in this epic journey. What is this journey you may wonder? It's the adventures of every single person's life as they travel forward in time to make their claim in history. Now let's hear it for those that will be doing so today in this arena!"

She struck a victory pose as she thrust her free arm forward with the pose's signature "V". Her speech and declaration were met with roaring cheers. Ranma felt the strength of these peoples' passion in that moment. Not just with the feeling of the roar in the air or the rising strength in everyone's ki. She felt their strength empower her in a way she had never felt before. It was almost addicting and filled her with renewed confidence and anticipation for what was to come next.

With this in mind, she raised her hand in a silencing gesture from its previous pose. Once she had their attention once more she continued," Now a few things were brought to my attention. One of them being why I'm using live weapons- wait really?" She said looking at the same place before," Come on, I'm not gonna handicap people for the big fight," She shook her head as she brought her attention to the crowd," Seriously, it's not anyone's going to be seriously hurt- will you just stop!... Whatever, logic aside, let's get to the demonstration of what I mean by no one getting hurt!"

At that cue, someone walked out into the arena. It was a young girl who seemed to love blue. Her clothes and hair bore this color in abundance. Though her most striking feature were the floating ice crystals hovering behind her back. She was smiling as she approached. Ranma looked in honest confusion at the approaching girl.

"Where's the volunteer for the demonstration?" she asked in confusion, not bothering to lower her microphone. She very much doubted a child would knowingly volunteer for what was about to happen.

"Demo what now? I'm here because I was told someone thought they were stronger than me!" the strange girl declared with arms crossed and an impish grin.

"The hag-" At that moment a small portal opened above her and Ranma was struck. It wasn't particularly hard, but Ranma played along in their little game. She loved teasing the woman about her age after all," Ah, ok, I get it!" She complained to the bemusement and confusion of the watching audience," No need to ask, now I know Yukari put ya up to this."

The girl smiled ecstatically," Yup, she told me about you after I showed her my strength!"

"How exactly?" Ranma asked curiously.

"I froze her tea. Iced tea is so much better after all! So I was doing her a favor while showing off!" The girl explained. It most definitely explained everything in Ranma's opinion. The girl was sent here to learn a lesson. Well, might as well not disappoint.

"Ok, whatever, but tell ya what, I'm in a hurry so let's make this quick," Ranma agreed to the upcoming farce as she took on a stance. The girl nodded gleefully as she pulled out a card.

"Ice Si-"

The unfortunate victim didn't even get to finish her activation phrase before a high speed mokotakabisha crashed into her. Her eye's grew in shock as she found herself thrown back by the attack. Ranma used this distraction to close in and give the baka a visually brutal beat down. She finished off the poor girl by slamming her into the ground with enough force to shatter the arena floor.

Then Ranma signaled for the paramedics to come out with a camera crew.

"Now don't worry or think of me as heartless. I wouldn't do that under normal circumstances. First, you should note that this girl is older than she would appear. I would hope everyone would know better than to judge by looks in this world. Though I should also mention that the girl was expecting a spell based battle. Not to be trounced in melee. I mention this so you understand she isn't as durable as a fighter," Ranma explained as she signaled for the medical team to give her a quick assessment as large screens lit up showing two different things. One showing the beating while the other showed the unconscious girl without an injury. Her clothes were a bit scuffed up, but that wasn't the point," I also should mention that I wouldn't actually do that to someone normally. I just needed to make sure you all understood that we have a special barrier up in this arena courtesy of R&D. No physical damage will be dealt. Instead, your energy will be drained until you go unconscious. I should also note that reckless tactics are not advised as limbs will be made useless during the fight if you suffer a blow that would disable it normally. I should also that pain was turned off for this demonstration for my volunteer's sake. It will be on during the actual battle. This barrier is set up to allow our fighters to be able to fight to their fullest without worry for the consequences."

"In any case, we'll get this started as soon as the repair crew fixes the damage," Ranma added as she walked off the stage while the silly fairy was carried away. She also didn't mention that the girl wasn't expecting physics to be in full effect. Attacks within a normal spell card barrier didn't have that kind of punch. While everyone left the arena, a new crew came out. It was a group of mages and workers. The mages levitated the broken segments out with magic while the workers replace them with fresh stone cubes. It was expected the arena was going to break and they had prepared well for it. They had enough supplies to replace the entire arena after every match if they had to.

As the workers went about their work, expectations grew in the crowd for the upcoming battle.


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: Don't own these characters and settings.

AN: Hey guys, ready for yet another chapter!? I hope you are because here it is. A couple things I'd like to mention on this is yes, there is there are some cameos yet again. On a note on one of them, I changed her slightly to tried to hint at the fact this version of her is different and she isn't relying on an artifact. Moving from that, I can't remember I had anything else major to mention here. So, with that said, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Gust was starting to get worried. She had yet to find anything in RED's office. Admittedly, she had only been searching for a couple of hours on her own, but she had hoped to find something useful already. She needed to hurry if she was going to derail whatever was going on safely. She took another book down from a shelf and glanced at the title before flipping the pages quickly to find any notes or loose papers. She shook her head in disappointment at finding nothing. She continued this process again and again to no avail.

As for Nisa, she had left a little bit ago insisting she was feeling much better now. Gust would have loved for her to stay and help in the search, but Nisa had sad that she needed to check in with her forces. She had a major investigation underway to find out who had used Vert's phone the previous night. This was turning into a major mess.

It was then that she heard the door open quickly and a rushing agent entered short of breath. It was a young lady. She had dark brown hair that was cut short and dark colored eyes. She wore a black, long sleeved dress with a matching shoulder cape tied by a red ribbon. Gust reassessed her condition when she noted that the girl was only slightly out of breath.

"Ma'am, I have been sent to help you here," the girl explained as she stood straight and all signs of exertion disappeared.

"Why did they send you? Did something happen?" Gust demanded as she looked to the girl.

"There have been complications with the investigation," was her answer

* * *

Nisa could not believe what she was looking at. It was security footage from the backstage of last night's concert. It made things far more troublesome. They had been blocked at every juncture during the initial investigations. There were no prints on the phone. There was no witnesses, and it had taken for too long to track down the security footage. It was as if the culprit was actively trying to erase its presence. Of course it made sense, but this almost seemed to be professional level work. Except, there was a major problem with this assumption.

She watched the footage of the time frame at which the crime should have happened. Vert was backstage getting ready ready for the show. She stopped for a moment to look at her phone. The qualitly wasn't perfect, but she could to that Vert was smiling at whatever was on it. It still wasn't the time of the crime. It was then that Vert seemed to break out of whatever state she was in to look about as if someone was calling her. She set the phone down on a nearby table. Nisa had to wonder why she would do something like that. It seemed outright foolish, but that was when it happened. The phone lit up while Vert was away. This was the time of the crime. The device was not being used by anyone. It was active on its own! It then darkened after roughly fifteen seconds. About a minute later, Vert came rushing back to retrieve the phone.

No one had been there. It had operated itself. This meant one of several possibilities. There's a ghost running about in Eden. The device became self aware. Vert was pulling some elaborate set up and was the culprit, which would easily explain why she would leave the device out in the open. Though the most likely reason was her phone had been hacked. If it was the last option, it still wouldn't rule out Vert pulling this stunt especially since the image in question only went to one place. She had watched the video ten times now along with specialist and still found nothing. Nisa was starting to get a headache as she found herself going in circles.

She growled in frustration before turning to a nearby subordinate," Go bring some spiritualists and magic experts to the scene. Get me some tech experts and have them check the phone and security at the scene of the crime for tampering, and lastly, get me something for this head ache!"

* * *

The tournament was progressing nice. Tekken was still in the game and Ranma was looking on in excitement. Noire felt happy for her, but she couldn't get over her nervousness for the girl sitting next to her. Neptune was happily cheering on the fights and making the most of it. It was as if there was no threat in waiting for the goddess. Noire found that she just could not get over her nervousness. The only reassurance she had was that she and the other CPUs of Gamindustri were all there to intervene once a threat made itself known.

"Come on Nowa! Lighten up and enjoy the show," Neptune exclaimed as she latched onto Noire," Here, ya got to try some of these snacks. Their even serving pudding!"

Noire found herself speechless as she focused on restraining the blush she knew she otherwise would have. Ranma, on the other hand, was not content to let her be. She noticed what Neptune was up to and couldn't help but to tease Noire a little as she latched on to the goddess of regality's other arm and put on a cutesy act," Aw, cheer up! They also have ice cream!"

Noire was not ready for the act and soon found herself dashing away from the panel as broke out in a blush. She had to get out of sight.

Back at the panel, Ranma chuckled at the sight before smirking and giving Neptune a wink. Neptune, who was now in the midst of full on laughter, managed to give a thumbs up," That was great!"

Blanc shook her head at the shenanigans and smiled. It was just like Ranma to latch onto a chance to break the tension. Vert, on the other hand, was not quite sure of how to feel," That was a little mean. We're in public after all… though it was cute."

"Oh, it shouldn't be a problem. The focus should have been on the match. Not us," Ranma pointed out as she jerked a thumb to one of the large displays. Neptune was nodding in agreement.

"Yeah-oh," Neptune began before a thought occurred to her as she turned her attention to Ranma," That act was awesome!"

The two jovial goddesses were laughing when they heard the announcer.

"Now, with the match over. Let's have a recap of the critical moment that was the turning point of the match!" The woman's voice called out happily as the big screen brought up a recording. It had been an even battle between that swordsman from the other day and some ninja girl with long brown hair done up in a braided twin-tail. Her most defining feature was the heart shaped eye patch on her left eye. As for the swordsman facing her, he seemed to have caught on to Ranma's assessment and taken off the helmet to allow a wider range of sight.

The two fighters seemed to be closing in at high speed only for the swordsman to look away in shock at something happening away from the battle. He barely recovered in time to dodge away from the engagement. Unfortunately for him, his arm took a hit that disabled it. The battle went down hill from there.

"So, what does our expert judges have to say?" The announcer called out. The screen was now focused on the judges' panel where a Noire could be scene walking back carrying pudding and an ice cream cone.

"Well, I got to give it to the guy for getting rid of his helmet," Ranma spoke up as she turned on her mic," However, it's clear that he allowed his eyes to wander too much. He was clearly distracted by something off screen. His opponent, though, wasn't distracted. Likely because of the eye patch, but I have no idea what caused the distraction in the first place."

"Oh really? Well then strap yourselves in for this!" The announcer called out as the screen lit up to show the judges' panel and playing a very familiar scene. Blanc snorted as Vert sighed as the scene from earlier played out. As for Noire, she was now pale. Neptune was now standing with one foot in her chair and the other on the desk as she gave a "V" for victory while smiling. Ranma simply fell out of her chair and was just recovering as the screen returned to now," I'd say the judges might have been a little too distracting, but what do the judges have to say?"

Ranma woodenly switched the mic back on. It was set for push to talk to help avoid any accidents," … While I am sorry… I should mention I have been in a number of battles with odd distractions. The fact is you have to be focused or else."

"Ah, so discipline was the deciding factor? And not the fact that only one of the contestants could see you?"

"… Both," was all that Ranma replied.

"Well, teasing aside, let's hear our contestant's opinion!"

The screen shifted to the man who had become an accidental victim in Ranma's and Neptune's chicanery. He was handed a mic as he shook his head and smiled," I would have to agree with the Goddess. Discipline is an underlying principle in most forms of combative arts. I have been remiss in this as I had been depending upon certain equipment to aid in this matter. I have only myself to blame."

"Well, you heard it folks. Now, with the teas- er interviews aside, let's move along!" The announcer declared happily while winking to the camera as she made her slip of tongue.

Noire was now sitting in her seat. She was no longer pale. She was quite the opposite," I hope you two are happy," She grumbled while blushing.

"Always am!" Neptune declared cheekily as Ranma chuckled nervously.

"Turn about is fair play," Blanc chimed in as she smirked.

* * *

After that incident, any tension had disappeared and the tournament continued. As for the fights themselves, most of the time was spent in the post battle recap. The reason for this was because there was a tendency for the fighters to be too fast for regular people to keep up. That wasn't to say everyone was fast. Even a regular match had things to go over so that the audience could better understand. Though, the main reason for this was because the announcer was there to keep everyone better entertained. This became necessary as the battles went on and several fighters were steam rolling. Fortunately, this meant that the fights were really good when two such fighters went up against each other.

Currently it was the final match. Tekken and the eye patch girl were squaring off. Tekken was winning, but it was clear to Ranma why. Her opponent was good. Unfortunately, Tekken was durable and able to prevent the blade from landing direct blows that would disable her. As the match continued, Ranma noticed that the other girl was consuming ki at an alarming rate. She was starting to breathe raggedly. Ranma pressed a button. Immediately an alarm went off signaling the match was over. Tekken didn't look away as she stayed focused while her opponent never dropped her stance. It was as if they wanted to keep going, but Ranma shook her head. The battle was over.

This in mind, she leapt out from the seat and made her way to the combatants.

"Come on, this is over!" Ranma declared as she stepped into the battlefield.

Tekken seemed ready to rebel. The other girl simply held her ground as she breathed haggardly. Ranma turned to the sword wielder," Look, ya did good making it here, but you need ta stop. This is a competition. Not a life or death battle. That technique you're using to enhance your abilities is costing ya too much. Barrier or no, your life will be at risk if ya don't stop."

The girl took a moment as if to consider the matter before nodding. After that, she slumped forward and collapsed into unconsciousness. Her body seemed to de age a little as the technique shut down. The eye-patch fell away further revealing a younger face and a small scar over the eye. Soon enough the paramedics came on scene and carried her away. They also handed over some restoratives to Tekken so she'd be ready for what was to come.

* * *

Nisa was hitting a wall. They had come up with nothing substantial in the investigation. There just was nothing to follow. No prints were on the phone. No security breaches were found at all, though this didn't rule out hacking since skilled hackers could erase their tracks. There was no spiritual residue, Admittedly that had been a long shot, but considering some of the things found when cleaning up and restoring the city, she would not have been surprised.

The hero of justice slammed her fist down upon the desk where the reports set. She had the best Eden could muster working on this. As for her, she had been stuck in her office combing through reports and sending orders out. She was getting nowhere on this side of things. It was high time she went somewhere that could use her aid. With this in mind, she turned to the open laptop on her desk and started drafting a new set of orders to put the investigation under someone else's control. Now she was going to head over to the Oracle's office and give Gust another set of hands. She had already pulled two others besides Agent Chiko.

As she left, she bumped into a frantic girl who clearly did not belong in this department within the Basilicom. This was made clear by the fact she seemed to by going around in circles and fidgeting about. Normally, someone should have already met the girl and handled whatever was the matter. Normally, this place wouldn't be in an uproar over some serious issues why dealing with a major event as well as handling a matter over at the secondary HQ.

"Hey there, we're kind of in a pinch as you can see. I'm Nisa, the head of security," She greeted the visitor with a forced smile," What brings you here?"

"Oh, uh, I'm from R&D. There's been a communications failure throughout multiple locations in R&D. I have been going in circles to report an emergency. The room of seals has been placed under quarantine due to dangerous and erratic upsurges in the crystal!" the visitor rapidly reported as relief finally showed on her face to finally have someone to report to.

Nisa was not so relieved. R&D having a communications failure was not good. While the department had the regular duties of and advanced magical and technological research and development, it also held other duties. They're purview was all knowledge that did not fall under the header of security on the exception of one thing. They were the ones tasked with observing and managing anything to do with the room of seals. This was in large due to the fact that their other duties provided them with the best specialist for observing and maintaining the room. This was made especially necessary when it was found that the flow of share energy was irregular. The problem was figuring out the cause. This is a bit harder than one would think considering the room was filled with powerful seals that were interacting with the crystal. Nisa, Gust, and RED had all wanted the array shut down upon the initial discovery of the possible interference. Their wishes were overruled when an expert pointed out that doing so improperly could cause a backlash and damage or destroy the crystal. Since they still did not fully understand the seal array, there was no way the could safely shutdown their systems.

As such, the room was placed as R&D's number one responsibility and their department was moved to surround it. Of course, they didn't carry out any experiments within the Basilicom. At least none that Nisa was aware of… In any case, it made sense that their communications would go down under these circumstances.

"Thank you, you can go back now," Nisa replied after considering the report. This said, the girl ran off. Nisa pulled went back to her office and opened the emergency line to Security's secondary HQ. After a moment, the line picked up," This is Nisa, head of security, we have an emergency. Send an emissary through. We need the best seals and magic experts we can grab. Tell them that negotiations can be handled at a later date pending the success in preventing a major disaster… I don't care if Gust won't be happy about this. She 's tied down trying to end some other unknown disaster in the works and the oracle is out of commission!"

* * *

Tekken and Ranma stood across from each other within the arena. They had already gone through the award ceremony. It was fun and all, but it was more of a side show for the two combatants. They had waited throughout the ceremony putting on their best public faces while it felt like time was starting to ground to a halt. With every second, their battle was drawing near and the anticipation only seemed to ramp up.

"Now it's time for the final battle of the tournament!" The two combatants smiled as they took their stances. Tekken took on a more offensive stance. Though, Ranma never could tell with her since she was fairly sloppy. Deceptively so in fact. As for Ranma, she decided to answer with her own non-stance. She purposely left herself unguarded and unprepared as she smirked to her opponent. Tekken's smile only widened," Begin!"

With that single word, their battle finally was set in motion. In tekken's case, this was quite literal, as she charged Ranma. The goddess had not expected the speed at which Tekken's charge came. She was running want seemed to be full force for her and was lodging her feet into the arena with her every step. She was using it as a foothold to focus all of her momentum forward and build it further with each successive step. She had achieved a land speed that almost rivaled Vert's flying charges. Almost, Ranma thought to herself as she waited for the last moment to side step the attack. She was actually disappointed. The momentum Tekken had built was too much. If Tekken missed, it would be Ranma's victory by default.

It was as Ranma began her dodge, that she saw her only warning. It was a subtle shift in Tekken's balance as she began to throw her punch. Ranma abandoned the sidestep in favor of leaping out of the way. Unfortunately, it was too late. Tekken's feint had actually caught her by surprise. She swung around in that same moment to instead bury her foot into the ground with a devastating kick. The ground wasn't simply cratered. It was utterly destroyed along with the portion of the arena in front of her. The barrier for the audience lit up and wavered under the shockwave. Said shockwave, had unfortunately caught Ranma in her leap sending her spinning away to make a landing at the edge of the arena to Tekken's right, or at least what was her right since the girl was now coming for her. This time at, she did so at a less reckless pace to allow her to properly engage Ranma. This allowed Ranma just enough time to recover and take a proper stance. She had to admit that Tekken had used a good strategy. She had managed to position her in a disadvantageous spot for an exchange. If Ranma slipped up, She'd be out and lose. She smirked as she met Tekken in a flurry blows, dodges, and deflections.

Tekken's little strategy had one small problem to it. She wasn't as fast as Ranma in hand to hand. Ranma was able to take control of the engagement easily. Eventually, she saw a chance and took it. In this one instant, she used a trick she had come up with for fighting Ryouga a while back. She pushed her speed to the max to deliver well over a hundred punches to a single location, her stomach. Her efforts were rewarded with an answering blow flow Tekken who had purposely left the opening for this exchange when she realized she was too slow. Ranma was sent flying by the punch.

Fortunately for Ranma, she had managed to use her footwork during the exchange to take her back away from the edge. She was instead sent tumbling back by the unexpected counter before she regained control and slid into a crouch several meters away. She had to admit that had hurt, but she at least had her guard up this time around. Tekken wasn't going to be sending her to Leanbox by air this time around. She did this by making sure the angle of her blows that could connect would be angled down, allowing Ranma to use the ground to properly brace. Ranma had also abandoned the air for this fight all together. Even with all that, any punch Tekken connected with was going to knock her back. She smiled in spite of this. The reason was simple, Ranma finally had the initiative in this match.

Tekken had found she couldn't pursue Ranma. The reason was she was too busy focusing on staying on her feet and recovering from Ranma's own blurring punch. She had no idea why it seemed to blur, but it had hit much harder than what she expected it to. She let out a breath as she finally had herself under control, and not a moment too soon as Ranma fell upon her for another exchange. Ranma was simply too fast, but there was at least one thing in her favor. Ranma wasn't hitting hard enough too be too troubling. Oh, Ranma was getting through her toughness, but Tekken could take these fast blows easily. It was that strange blurring punch that seemed to get by. Though, Tekken did concede one major point in her friend's favor. Ranma's movement had a better flow to them as she shifted and weaved through their engagement. It was thanks to this that she hadn't noticed Ranma had shifted their positioning.

The two continued on like this with Ranma managing to deliver her Ryouga specials in exchange for Tekken's powerful punches. It was starting to become clear to Ranma that Tekken had more endurance than her. Ranma wasn't going to win without going HDD if she kept up these little exchanges. Of course, she would never consider doing such a thing here. This was about matching skills and the results of hard training. Not using powers that had been granted by happenstance. It was at that moment that Ranma noticed her foot had hit the edge of the ring again. Tekken had a beaming smile as she took advantage of this to throw the puch that would win her their little match.

Ranma smirked at the last moment as she shifted her stance to lower her center of gravity and thrust her leg out to trip Tekken. Between the force of her own punch and loss of balance, Tekken found herself stumbling towards the edge. She was about to regain her balance once more when she felt something solid connect with her back. She went tumbling over the edge of the arena. The battle was over and Ranma had won. There was a moment of silence before the crowds broke out in cheers.

* * *

Gust now sat at RED's desk and was going through its files. They had only just found the password over thirty minutes ago. Gust should have known that the bookshelves were a big waste of time. The first agent sent had found a small cache hidden beneath the desk. While they still haven't figured out how to open the small safe, they did find RED's manga collection… Which of course hid the clues they needed.

The crazy one infuriated Gust sometimes. She knew the woman meant well and probably wouldn't have been as crazy as she had been if whatever was manipulating people hadn't gotten to her. That was evident when the woman realized she was losing control and asked to be knocked out. At this little thought, Gust felt some relief. It had been quite cathartic considering the mess they were in now. Though she would have to apologize later. After all, RED wasn't entirely to blame if what she had been told was true. She only wish that lady hadn't been so cryptic…

It was as these thoughts roiled through the advisor's mind that she noticed a strange file heading. It was about some contract from Planeptune. She opened it up curiously. She had to let out a dark chuckle at what it contained. It was a good thing for Neptune that this couldn't be fulfilled. Especially with what happened at the Planeptune convention. Who knows what kind of mess they'd be in right now if… it… could…

She paled as a thought occurred to her. She needed to contact Ranma immediately.

* * *

Ranma stepped off the stage as the cheering continued. She grinned as she offered a hand to Tekken. The downed girl looked disappointed at first as she looked to the ground. After a moment she looked up to see Ranma's grin and found she couldn't help but smile as she took her friend's hand. Soon enough she was standing and dusting herself off.

"Well, that was fun!" Ranma commented as she stretched. All the while the announcer was going over the fight for the crowd. The two of them ignored it. Why did they need to hear about it after all?

"Mm hmm," Tekken nodded in agreement" It was, but I can't help but feel that was a little mean at the end there," ended in a pout.

"Well, to be honest you were gonna win if I didn't change tactics or form…" Ranma answered with a shrug," Well that or use a bunch of tricks I knew you wouldn't keep up with. I wanted to fight ya on your terms."

Tekken ended her pout by sticking her tongue out and smiling in a silly expression to her friend. She had to admit that Ranma had kept the fight strictly to hand to hand when she knew Ranma had so many other moves she could have brought to the table. She looked forward to the day when Ranma would have to use those against her. She would have to train even harder. She might even have to spend more time with her master to improve her form. She didn't like the idea so much. Maybe it was better to hold off on that and play to her strengths. _H_ _mm, speaking of strength and her master_ _…_ Tekken found herself caught up in her own thoughts as she tried to remember something.

It was then that the audience that was getting ready to leave were suddenly stopped. The reason for this was quite obvious as something began to play over the speakers. It was an old song, but not one that belonged to Eden. However, it was a song that was held in high reverence across Gamindustri. Its origin was from none other than Planeptune and was completely unmistakable.

"Well, here we go guys!" Neptune declared with mirth.

The three other goddesses stared at Neptune in confusion, all except for one. Blanc was looking to her in apprehension," Neptune, please tell me this is a horrible joke."

"Nope! He's back and he's here to enforce an old agreement~!" Neptune chirped. It was then that Noire noticed something wrong with her. Neptune's eyes had a strange gleam to them.

It was as the ancient song came to an end that a lone figure leapt from within the crowd. He smashed through the barrier. It was a man who everyone who had ever studied history in Gamindustri could easily identify. He hadn't aged a day since he was thought to have died. The only thing that belied his age was his white hair where once so long ago it was black. Silence now consumed everything on the exception of this man's steps as he walked to the center of the stage. Ranma looked to Tekken for a moment to find she was frozen in shock. Shaking her head, she jumped up onto the stage to meet this strange man. As Ranma walked, she considered who this man might be and what this could be about. It was then that she remembered the odd request tacked onto Tekken's admission into this tournament. Her expression shifted to a more serious one matching that of the man. Soon enough they stopped rough a meter from each other.

"I take it you're Tekken's master?" Ranma asked as her eyes narrowed. She could hear the background noise as various workers of all kinds broke out of their shock and began to restore the barrier for a possible confrontation. Repair crews came rushing out to try and repair the arena. They stayed clear of the center, leaving some of the wreckage from Tekken's charge untouched as no one wanted to go near the two at the center.

The man nodded in answer to Ranma's question," I am Segata Sanshiro, and I am here on a matter of honor."

Ranma's eyes widened in shock. She remembered that name. It was the name of a man she had lamented she couldn't fight when she first heard of him. Her face broke out into a full blown smirk," I accept."


	29. Chapter 29

Disclaimer: I do not own these series.

AN: Well, here we are at friggin' last! Some things to note. I tried to make this fun. Also, certain things weren't quite planned but happened as a result of research that turned up during certain scenes. Though I should mention that this does not mean things weren't planned. I actually forgot to include a scene in this chapter during the last one. Anyways, hope you enjoy!

* * *

Slowly, RED swam back to consciousness. She was feeling very refreshed as she opened her eyes to find herself resting in her futon. She slowly sat up as she tried to remember what happened. She remembered that Gust and Nisa had come together for a meeting. Last thing she could remember was Gust declaring her intent to fight. It was about this time that the oracle of Eden felt pain arise in her head. Clearly, she had lost. She pouted in frustration at the realization. She needed to protect her plans for the wifeys. With this in mind, the legendary seeker of love lumbered out of her bed over to a corner of her room. There, she lifted up a tatami mat to reveal another of her hidden caches. First, she withdrew some restoratives. She loved just how well healing items worked in this day and age. They were truly a life saver. This thought brought a smile to her lips in spite of the pain. Soon enough said pain was relieved and she was feeling much better.

Now with her faculties restored, she checked for her weapons. Sure enough they had been taken. RED frowned at this. She only had two alternatives left. She never bothered keeping backup weapons hidden away. That was mainly because she hadn't considered this possibility. Even her little caches were mainly meant to hide personal or valuable items, such as her special edition collection of Panicked Strawberries 1000%. She also threw in recovery items for good measure just in case. Pouting once more, she went over to a counter where her back up weapon was left untouched. Of course, they probably overlooked it thinking it a toy. Now armed with her yo-yo, she was ready to protect everyone's happiness!

* * *

The man, Segata Sanshiro, nodded appreciably at his opponent's declaration. He could see the sparkle in her eye. She clearly knew his reputation and would have challenged him on the spot if he had not already done so. She was a goddess of war born in a time of peace. The legendary martial artist and defender of Planeptune frowned at this thought. Not in disapproval but in worry of what such a birth could mean for the future of this world. However, that was a concern for another time. He nodded in agreement before deciding to give one warning," Very good, but I warn you not to hold back anything because I surely won't."

His piece said, he turned away and walked to the appropriate starting position for this arena. Ranma looked on curiously at the old man and considered what he meant. He couldn't seriously be telling her to use HDD. She shook her head at this and quickly turned about to take her place for the match.

"Well folks, it looks like the first grand tournament of Eden may very well be the greatest one in history, marked by an epic clash between Lady Red Heart and the legendary Segata Sanshiro!" The announcer declared in jubilation to a very excited crowd. After a short time that seemed to stretch for eternity to the two soon to be combatants, the words were finally yelled," READY! FIGHT!"

Ranma smirked as she closed in on the legend. She wasn't going to make the mistake of letting him move freely from the get go. Especially after that stunt pulled by Tekken. Segata looked on imperiously as his arms moved to protect his sides and his feet shifted to give him better stability. Ranma took note of this as she closed in and decided to test him on his word. With this in mind, she dodged to the side just before she would have entered arms reach of the man while tossing an arm forward to fire off her signature ki attack. The mokotakabisha barreled toward her opponent at high speed. He quirked a brow as he quickly brought his arm up to guard against the incoming attack. As the concussive blast exploded, Ranma dove in from the side throwing preparing to throw out an amiguriken barrage. As her first strike closed, she was taken by surprise as the man reached forth and grabbed her arm. It took her by surprise as her eyes widened in shock. In that same moment she found her momentum shifted as a leg sliced out to destroy her balance. She found herself in the midst of being thrown. She knew this was going to hurt. As such she decided to make sure she at least gave as good as she got. She twisted about to use her other arm for another barrage. Yet again, it was captured. All the while she noted something was wrong with the attack. She couldn't quite figure what it was as she was distracted by the fact that Segata had now dropped back into a roll with a foot flashing out to meet her midsection. She tried to return the kick, but since his connected first, it took him out of her reach. Worse, that sense of wrongness continued to build as she was thrown away. Shock filled her as she realized what had happened. She gathered her power in that instant to guard against what was to come as the ki Segata pumped into her destabilized.

An explosion rocked the arena's floor as the ki bomb exploded. Ranma had managed to defend herself well only to realize too late that there was a second bomb. The arena shook a second time. Ranma was hurt, but she wasn't out from the fight.

"I warned you to take me seriously goddess," A throng of voices called out. As the dust cleared, she found an army of Segatas now filled the ring. In that instant, she recollected herself in determination. It was now clear she would have to go all out. She smiled at the army and decided to show them and everyone not to count her out. She'd fight with the fruits of her training first. Then bring out the big guns. This in mind, she took to the air. Not by jumping, but by flight without the power of HDD. It had been one of the first things she had learned in her time across the boundary. Gasps filled the air around her as she gathered energy. She smirked as she began to send a barrage of amiguriken blasts raining down upon the army. The surprise on their faces vanished in that moment as they moved into action.

Those in the front went down to one knee and held their hands forward as the second line used this to jump high into the air and act as shields for the army as they exploded brightly into light. Ranma frowned at this when she realized her line of sight had been broken she only just barely managed to dodge the following onslaught as more Segatas came hurtling through the air reaching to grab her before exploding into similar bright lights. The goddess managed to dodge these attempts she weaved through the air. All the while she gathered more energy throughout her body. She split the energy into two and filled one with cold and the other with hot. She could feel the drain as the energies began to rage within before she finally unleashed the power outward. In an instant a powerful tornado formed about her and made contact with the ground. It was at this time a Massive fist broke through the barrier. Ranma was taken by surprised as she soon realized she had no where to dodge. She'd be caught in the winds of her own attack without the soul of ice properly in use. And she didn't have enough time to properly activate it and dodge. This left her with only a couple options. _Go big or go home_. She thought to herself in that moment as she activated the soul of ice. And punched downward. As Segata's grand punch connected and sent her crashing to the ground, the various energies gathered up within the tornado ignited. The was a massive explosion accompanied by a blinding flash. People began to scream in alarm as the barrier started to destabilize. A high pitched whine could be heard as it started to shatter.

* * *

"Wait, doesn't that move look fa-" Neptune began as the tornado erupted.

"Shit," uttered Blanc.

"Oh dear," Vert breathed.

"What you all waiting for, take formation!" Noire screamed.

* * *

As the barrier gave way, various elements erupted into existence fueled by share energy. Ice to the north, green winds to the west, fire and lightning to the south, and earth and water to the east. This created a buffer to buy the mages more time to create a specially modified barrier. It was a last ditch effort to protect the audience and allow the power an escape route upwards into the sky.

Soon the blast and smoke cleared to reveal the battle field. Ranma was kneeling at the center of a large crater at the corner of the arena. As for Segata, he was a single, normal sized man once more and clutching at his right arm. The sleeve of that arm was shredded. Thanks to the secondary barrier, there were no injuries, but it was clear both combatants were in pain. Ranma made it to her feet and slowly climbed out of the crater. Segata stood his ground and looked on. Eventually both combatants stood there ground and stared at each in wait. Not for each other, but for a new and proper set of barriers to be erected. As they waited, Ranma smirked and decided it would be a waste to spend this time in silence.

"Got to hand it to ya, those were some interesting moves, what was all of that?" She opened their little chat.

The man snorted in response before replying," Ki constructs and other such ki based abilities."

"Huh, those constructs seemed more solid than the other clone technique I've seen," Ranma retorted," Also doesn't explain the miracle growth."

For the first time since showing up, the legend smirked," That would be telling, wouldn't it?" he began with a chuckle before he expression hardened once more," Every art has its secrets, I think I'll be keeping mine."

"Oh, spoil sport," Ranma pouted before laughing," Ah well, it makes things more interestin' I'm sure I'll figure it out."

"I see," Segata commented with a frown," Be that as it may, I will warn you again. Stop holding back."

"Says the guy with a disabled arm. I at least came out of that fully able." She taunted. It was at that time that the last of the barriers snapped into being.

"who said I was disabled?" was the man's retort as he withdrew his clutched hand so he could deliver a strike to his currently disabled arm. It instantly looked better and he was moving it just fine. Ranma quirked her brow at this.

"Nice trick, but why wait until now to do that?" she asked confused with growing apprehension. It was then that the ground exploded once more. Kicking up dust and debris to obscure her vision," Oh that's why."

She immediately regretted it. She had no idea what to expect now. The fight had resumed the moment the barrier was restored. He was just showing proper etiquette. Soon after the explosion, Segata emerged in a rapid charge towards Ranma. It put the speed of Tekken's mad charge to shame and he clearly had control of it. Ranma barely dodged the strike that now snaked past her. It still grazed her and was mark by a tear in her shirt. She did her best to fight back, fully embracing the speed granted by the kachu tenshin amiguriken throughout her body. Even then, she realized she was out matched. She was being pushed back in the engagement when she felt something latch onto her. It was a clone. She only had a moment to realize this before it exploded. She was sent skidding to the edge once more. This time she didn't stop. She went over and only barely avoided the ring out by using her flight technique, the Long Feixing, to hover above the ground before taking to the air to buy her some time. IT was clear now that she was outmatched. She was wasting power at this point and Segata was only a little roughed up. Sure, she got that one attack off, but it was obvious he had already figured out how it had worked. He was now using his ki tricks more sparingly and tactically. She was going to lose at this rate, and it there's one thing she couldn't stand, it was that. Ranma doesn't lose!

In that moment of decision, light sprang about her once more as she took on her HDD form as she called out," Fine, you want me to go all out, ya got it!"

In this moment a grin grew on her opponent's face until it was a savage smile. It was clear the man had been waiting for this moment. He seemed ecstatic as he shifted to a defensive stance once more forsaking the initiative. It was clear what he wanted, and Ranma wasn't going to hold back anymore. In that moment the goddess descended at a blinding speed to deliver a Ryouga special. She was going to teach him not to take her lightly. The flurry over blows to follow were far faster than they had been before as the barrage savaged a vital point. His solar plexus. To her annoyance she had only managed ten blows before having to back off as more of his hidden constructs came out to play. She opened up the distance immediately as they covered for him. All the while she scanned for where they could have been hiding. Her brows furrowed as she take to the air to get a better view. The clones stood guard all the while as Segata recovered from having the wind knocked out of him. He was just recovering when Ranma noticed a shadow hiding in one of Tekken's footholds. She smirked once more as she finally understood what was going on. His constructs could change size. Hey was hiding them in the wreckage. Though that still didn't explain his growth ability. It was clear that it had been him based upon the damage he had taken. That could wait however, she needed fix a little problem.

Suddenly, her arms blurred for an instant and various explosions could be heard throughout the arena as she systematically eradicated the clones before focusing her barrage on her opponent. He seemed shocked for an instant as his army vanished, but he acted quickly. Another set of explosions rang out across the arena as he once more detonated the ground beneath his feet. The initial shockwave caused the follow on thundering as it detonated the forerunners of Ranma's barrage. The smoke and debris obscured her vision forcing her to stop unless she wished to waste more energy.

Segata didn't even wait for the dust to settle. The moment the barrage ended, his form rapidly emerged. Not because he was charging, but because he had become a massive giant.

"Se Ga Sa Ta N, SHI RO!"

* * *

The alarm had been raised at the Basilicom. Everything had been a sea of chaos when RED had made her move. She had managed to not only beat down the guards stationed outside her door, but she was also able to make her way to her office. She had managed to take down most of the agents still combing through the room with the exception of the youngest of them who upon seeing her used the others as a distraction as she fled. Likely to call backup. This had not mattered to RED. She needed to retrieve some of the files from the vault before security cracked it. With said documents now hidden on her person, she made her way to where she knew Ranma had to be at that time. The arena.

It was as she roof hopped towards her goal that she sighted her. The one who was determined to ruin her plans. She couldn't allow her to make contact with Ranma just yet. RED dropped down from a nearby roof to land before Gust to cut her advisor off from approaching the arena in further.

"Then crazy one!" the bunny themed girl hissed as she drew her broom staff. She did so just in time to deflect the first yoyo strike. However, it was clearly by accident as the girl's eyes widened and she fell back from the impact. Even so, the battle was over quickly. Gust was clearly a support and back liner. Without someone to act as a shield, RED was able to take her down quickly. The crowd nearby was shocked at the speed of this attack as they hadn't even finished giving them space when RED took to the roof tops just as security forces were moving in. Any pursuers were soon lost when a blinding flash came from the arena. The only reason RED was spared from it was that she had dropped down to street level to try and lose them just as it happened.

* * *

With that thunderous roar of a slight deviation of his own name, Segata seemed to be empowered as he threw a punch for the airborne goddess. She found the speed of this punch to be far greater than she had expected. Even as Ranma dodged it, she was caught by the shockwave of its passage and sent hurtling out of control. She ended up crashing to the ground and painful. However, she noticed the one weakness to Segata's actions and smirked as she took flight once more, managing to dodge the titan's foot as it slide across the arena to try and knock her out of it. All the while she gathered energy. It was going to be hard to pull off, but she was not about give up. She closed in to deliver a hard kick to a special point in the man's leg and pushed a large amount of energy into the strike. Segata bellowed on shock as he found his foot sliding out of control. His leg had been paralyzed. Ranma took a deep breath from the strain of the pressure point she had activated. It was now easier to strike because her foe was larger. The problem was that it required a lot more energy to activate special points such as the paralysis ones for larger foes. Soon, her opponent's foot would slide out of bounds and she would win.

Of course, that was based on the assumption Segata wouldn't realize this. He shifted his weight to his other leg and began to shrink down. He also took advantage of Ranma's own shocked annoyance to deliver a strike. She managed to raise her arms to guard against the blow and reached into her reserves to keep her from going flying. She was able to hold thanks to the strength behind it lessening with Segata's size. It was starting to tax her too much to keep throwing all of this energy around on flight and fighting. She had a new idea as she shifted about the fist she was struggling against to bound toward the ground with her flight inactive. After all, Segata was on his last leg. With her index finger extended, she pumped ki into her legs for one last spurt. She dashed about his good foot and began to tap the stone blocks. They began to explode into a spray of stone chips and weakening the untouched stones in her wake. It seemed to work at first as Segata lost his balance, but then the crumbling stone beneath his foot suddenly started to hold strong. She noted in annoyance that the man would, of course, know ki reinforcement techniques.

Segata continued to shrink down unto he was back to his original height. He then struck his downed leg and stood upon it once more. He was breathing hard and had a bead of sweat forming above his brow. Ranma decided to capitalize on this moment by making a charge at the man to deliver a powerful kick to his chest with all the speed she could muster. She managed to connect and looked on in relief as Segata went hurtling out of bounds. As she watched, her HDD form dissolved away as she no longer had the energy to maintain it.

Unfortunately, Segata was not done yet as he formed a clone and detonated it. He used the force of the explosion to send him sailing back into the arena before he would have lost. After sticking the landing he looked to Ranma and smiled as they stared down one another.

"You have down well," He noted as he drew breath.

"Not so bad yourself, old man," Ranma sniped as she wore her signature smirk.

Segata chuckled at the remark before replying," It would seem this fight is over," Ranma quirked her brow at this," I am getting on in my years, goddess. While my form and control are far greater than they used to be, I have been fighting a losing battle with time since long ago… But I'll never regret the cause. I concede this battle as your victory."

Ranma felt numb at this as her legs gave out with his words. She fell into a kneeling sit as she watched his retreating form. As he stood by the exit to the arena, he stopped turn in back and gave her a final bow of respect before calling out," With this, you have fulfilled the pact between my goddess and I. Goodbye!"

With this said, the winds picked up the dust and debris to obscure him from sight. As it settled, he was gone. After a few minutes, Ranma was met with a roar as the audience fell into cheering her on for her victory.

* * *

Neptune was actually shocked at what had happened. She honestly had no idea what to say on the matter. She didn't exactly love Ranma, but she did love Noire. If Blanc didn't kill her first, she might find herself in a happy relation. She chuckled nervously as she watched the other goddesses close in on Ranma. _A Nep who runs away get_ _'_ _s to live another day~!_ This in mind, she began to retreat. Sadly, she bumped into RED of all people.

"Oh, hi there wifey Neptune~!" RED chirped as she grabbed the now falling goddess and began to drag her along to her execution," So, did wifey Ranma win?"

Neptune followed along a little less enthusiastic as she chuckled," Yeppers…"

"Oh good! Then this would be a good time to make the announcement!" RED declared. As they entered the arena proper, Ranma, who was now standing once more, turned away from the goddesses who were greeting her and making sure she was ok. She looked to the approaching duo.

"Yo, RED, what's up? Something important happen?" Ranma asked curiously of her approaching oracle. RED nodded happily as she approached.

* * *

Sitting among the audience were two individuals. They were both wearing suspicious overcoats, glasses, and hats. One was seemed to be exceptionally tall with large, broad shoulders while the other seemed to have a more feminine figure.

"Well, well, well! I do believe the stage is set. Thank you for your assistance," The woman declared," I'll be sure to send you back home after I settle my last bit of business here."

"Oh, of course, darling! Just don't forget our little deal~!" the large one replied.

* * *

"So what's going on?" Ranma pressed as RED came to a stop nearby with Neptune in tow.

"Well, we have a big announcement!" RED answered cheerfully as she dragged the now pale and sweating profusely goddess and held her in front of her," This wifey is your newest fiancé!"

There were gasps while Ranma's left eye began to twitch," Run that by me again…"

"You two are engaged!" RED declared jubilantly as Neptune began to flounder in her grasp. A tic mark was forming on Ranma's head. This, of course, was not why Neptune was struggling now. Oh no, that was because she could clearly see the signs of Blanc becoming nepped off like you wouldn't believe and Noire's face was starting to work through her initial surprise and confusion and was steadily turning red. Funny enough, if she weren't about to be nepped over she'd have a hard time deciding between raging or blushing. _Why did I think this was a good idea?_

Ranma took a deep breath as a very familiar anger was building. She controlled herself as she pushed on," RED, I checked through the laws on that here. You handed them to me. This kind of stunt isn't legal!"

"Of course it isn't silly!" RED started off much to the relief of everyone. Even Neptune was sighing in relief," But those laws would have also ended all of your previous engagements. Since you were bent on returning to that other world because of similarly illegal engagement, I made an exception law for you. Otherwise all of your previous engagements would have been considered null and void."

Ranma froze at this statement. Blanc, however, was not as she dangerously made her inquiry," And how is Neptune engaged?"

It was Neptune her responded first with a nervous giggle. She was nepped and she knew it," You remember how I used to make all sorts of marketing gimmicks?"

Blanc's eyes narrowed," You didn't…"

"Yeah… I did," Neptune had stopped struggling at this point. This actually caused RED to let her go as she believed Neptune was no longer going to flee.

"Am I missing something here?" Noire asked in confusion.

"I'm afraid everyone is in the dark here," Vert added with a frown.

"Neptune," Blanc spoke pointedly.

"Uh, I might have made a campaign stating I'd only marry someone who could defeat my greatest follower… I even signed a contract stating such," Neptune explained.

Ranma started laughing a little. She had a bit of a logical fallacy running through her mind at this point. She was now being screwed over by a law designed to protect her engagements. She couldn't very well remove the laws as it would technically mean ending all of her reasons for going back to her world in the first place. That meant she now had a new fiancé. A fiancé who was in danger from someone she loved. She had no idea what she was going to do.

"Oh dear, I think you broke her," Vert commented worriedly as she moved to try and reassure Ranma. Blanc, on the other hand, was angry. So angry in fact, she called out her hammer.

"Neptune," she growled in her quiet voice. It was then that Ranma's mind latched onto a familiar scenario. She had a fiancé, who was currently unarmed, being threatened by an armed assailant. She immediately dodged about Vert's attempt to reassure her.

"Sorry, Blanc, ya know I love ya, but I can't let this go," She declared as she grabbed a now thoroughly surprised Neptune," Matter of honor and all!"

Blanc and the others stared in shock as Ranma fled the scene. One moment she's turning a corner at an exit. The next thing they knew. She was gone.

* * *

"Well, that was simple," The woman muttered as she quickly left the scene of the crime.

"Well, I must say that something seems to be working in your favor dear," her partner in crime added.

"Hmm, maybe there is something to that," the woman noted as they found a secluded location," In any case, off you go, I have big plans!"

* * *

"Awww, I didn't even get to the best part!" RED pouted as she watched the two make their escape.

"Really," Blanc replied flatly.

As RED was about to answer further, she paused. She realized at that moment this might have been a bad plan. In fact she was certain of it at this point," Wow, what made me think engaging Ranma to all the CPU wifeys was a good idea?"

Blanc had had enough. In a single instant, she reintroduced RED to the world of unconsciousness for the second time that day. She and Noire then left to seek out Ranma. This left Vert to handle matters at the arena. Including explaining why a goddess had publically assaulted the local oracle. Things were quite the mess.

* * *

Nisa was not having a pleasant time back at the Basilicom. Sirens were now sounding throughout it as the instability seemed to spike horribly. It was now only a matter of seconds before everything blew and the specialists she had ordered brought in had yet to arrive. Suddenly all went silent.

She immediately dropped her current task to make a mad dash to R&D. She needed answers. She soon threw the sliding door to one of its offices and demanded," What happened!?"

One of the staff turned to her," We're not sure, everything is stable once more."

* * *

Else where, Ranma found herself in another familiar position. She was now way up in the sky and hurtling towards the ground below. This time with a passenger. Neptune was now flailing about in her arms.

"What the nep!?" she cried out," Turn on the breaks!"

"I'm trying to, if you'd just stop struggling!" Ranma shot back as she tried to call up some power. Something was wrong. It was not responding right. She must have been weaker than she thought. Of course, this made sense since she had just finished battling a legend," Uh, we might have a problem."

"What?" Neptune asked as they continued to fall.

"I'm out of energy," Ranma answered flatly. To which Neptune struggled once more only to find something was wrong.

"I think we're nepped, I can't go HDD…" Neptune replied nervously. At this, Ranma looked down to judge her best landing strategy. It was then she noticed to figures believe. One of which was very familiar.

"Watch out!" was all Ranma managed to get out before crashing into one of the figures.


	30. Chapter 30

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, settings, and more in this.

AN: Hi there! So a few things to note. I might have been a little vindictive when I starting writing this. Not because of anything anyone said or did. No, it was because I am now watching a let's play to help me with this since it's been so long since I played Victory. This resulted in a few discoveries. I had forgotten the actual time between games. it was supposed to be several years. Minor detail. No, what got me was how long the dialogue scenes were and just how watered down my version of Neptune had been the entire time... So I might have written the front of this to help share my experience in this. Intentional or not, I won't say, but I will say I did try to compensate by trying to speed things along a little. If it makes you feel better, I HOPE to have the set-up for this arc done next chapter. On the bright side, the first half of this chapter isn't as drawn out as the actual scenes in the game... Hope you enjoy, but if you don't please don't hold it against me.

* * *

"Wow, what a loud crash," commented an unfamiliar voice. Neptune sat up and looked around to find a girl who seemed a little vacant. She had light lilac hair, so light it could be mistaken for a light blue by some people, and violet eyes. She wore a light blue and white dress held up with straps and showing off her shoulders. It also had sleeves still. It was kind of hard to tell if they were detached or not thanks to a pink shoulder cape thingy that was attached to the main dress. She also wore pink striped socks and… slippers?

"Ah, nep, I coulda sworn the next game was gonna be in a couple more years," Neptune thought out loud," Anyways, Howdy there! I'm Neptune!"

The girl's face seemed to light up a little as her dreamy expression lessened, though her ever present smile only grew, as she returned the greeting," Good day, my name is Plutia. Umm but what a-"

"Hmm, too many syllables for my taste, I'll just call ya Plutie!" Neptune chirped. Not even taking note of the fact she had cut the other girl off. Though she had to say, Ranma was being very patient with this scene. She kind of had to wonder what was taking the harem master.

Plutie nodded as she seemed to consider something," Then I'll call you… Neppy!"

"Then it's done dealerooni! So where are we?" Neptune wondered as she began to take in her surroundings. The place seemed strikingly familiar.

"Oh, we're in the recently founded nation of Planeptune," Plutie answered.

"Now hold up a minute, you got to be joking, I know for a fact that Planeptune isn't new! It's-"

* * *

During all of the nonsense going on, Noire found herself staring into a pair of striking blue eyes. These eyes belonged to a strange girl with red hair. A girl who was currently straddling her and had her pinned down. Noire was initially confused, but as she was about to say something she noticed something new. The girl was now blushing.

As for said girl, Ranma had done her best when she realized what was going to happen. She had no energy to throw around, so she had quickly twisted around to let go of Neptune. This was not to hurt her but to allow to her to prevent both girls from being hurt. With Ranma placed between Neptune and their unfortunate victim, she continued to twist about to face Noire and try to lessen the impact as much as possible. Now that it was all over, Ranma found herself face to face with one of the girls she loved. Soon enough she broke into a blush. Noire seemed to have some kind of revelation, and was starting to blu- _wait, she looks ang- Uh, why is she shuddering?_ That would be when Ranma's arms and legs started to regain feeling. _Oh look, the numbness is startin_ _'_ _ta wear o-_

As for Noire, she was getting ready to blow her top at the girl. How dare some random crazy girl come out of know where and push her down like this! She was going to give this assailant a lesson. In fact, she was almost tempted to introduce her to Plutia's HDD. She then trembled in memory at the thought. _Nope, nevermind! Not going to do that! No one deserves that, and even if they did_ _…_ _I_ _'_ _d be the next victim- unless I flee first._ She opened her mouth to say something.

* * *

It was at this time that Neptune found herself falling once again. She squawked in surprise at this and was now tumbling down to the ground, hard.

"Wow, that looked like it hurt," Plutie commented on the side line in an almost admiring fashion.

"Hey! Ranma, for a harem master that sure as nep is no way to be treating little old me," She groused as she began to stand up. What she found next was a shocker. It actually kind of hurt her in that odd way. Ranma was currently lying atop Noire in lip lock," Wowza! Now just a nepping minute. This is no time for- oh wait, she's unconscious."

"Aw, I was hoping it was something more," Plutie added," Oh well~"

As for Noire, she was currently mortified by the entire experience. She was frozen by it in fact. Though, her brain did finally kick in. In fact, there was a lot of kicking involved as she struggled to get the girl off. She was heavily heaving once the girl was finally off of her.

"What was that for!?" She demanded of the unmoving assailant.

"Uh, helloooo, she's out like a light. Totes vacant, ya know, unconscious?" an annoying voice interjected. Noire turned to find yet another strange girl standing nearby as she began to stand up.

"Whatever, just tell your… friend, to stay away from me!" she ordered while crossing her arms," Seriously, how dare she… she do… THAT to me!"

"Ah, buck up Noire, she's a harem master! I think its her thing, I remember when she did that to me too. At least there's no crowd and scandalous pictures involved this time!" the girl that Noire was now mentally labeling as insane ranted on.

"Oh wow," Plutia added in that dreamy way of hers.

"H-Harem master!? You mean she goes around attacking people like that all the time! And how do you know my name!" Noire shot off to the now shocked girl.

"What? Please don't tell me you're mad at me because I got engaged to her. Don't treat me like a total stranger!" the as of yet unnamed nutcase pleaded as she grabbed on to her. Noire felt disgust at this.

"Get off of me- Wait, you two are engaged and she's still pulling this crap!" Noire yelled as she pushed a now flailing crazy annoyance. After a moment she stopped and looked at Noire curiously.

"Wait, that's not like you to blame Ranma for something like this," the girl began to finally think. Though, it was clear to her that she was thinking the wrong way.

"Not like me!? I don't know you two at all!" Noire shot back.

"Neppy, is something wrong?" Plutia asked in a somewhat concerned manner.

This _Neppy_ seemed to think for a moment before responding," It's got to be, this Noire is a clone!"

"Oh wow, are you a clone Noire?" Her friend asked wonderingly.

"What!? No, of course I'm not!" Noire huffed back angrily. This girl was starting to seriously piss her off even more than her would be assailant had.

"But ya got to mean, I'm as sure as I am that I'm Planeptine's CPU!" declared the now labeled idiot.

"Oh wow, and you're Planeptune's CPU too?" Plutia chimed in once again.

"Don't be gullible, she's obviously messing around. You are Planeptune's ONLY CPU!" Noire turned on Plutia.

"Now wait one neppickin' minute! What are you gals trying to pull here. I'm the goddess of Planeptune along with my little sister!" The Nepping girl exclaimed- Wait, now she was starting to use that dreaded syllable. Noire shook her head to help clear it away.

"Wow, we're sisters?" Plutia gullibly followed along.

"She's lying and nuts," Noire asserted as she massaged head. She was starting to get a headache.

"I am no liar!" the nutcase declared. Noire was getting tired of this at that point. It was then that everyone's attention was drawn by a groan.

"Uggh, that hurt. What's goin' on?" groused the other new girl. Ranma is what she was called by the nutcase.

"Oh, you recovered fast, though I find it strange you went unconscious like that what with you being the harem master and all," The idiot went on.

"Wow, is she going to attack me too?" Plutia asked in her usual manner. Noire was never quite sure what her friend was thinking.

"Sure she will just give it time!" the idiot chirped happily.

"What!? I would do no such thing!" the Ranma girl squawked in indignation from her spot on the ground.

"Sure you wouldn't, it's not like you didn't just do just that to me," Noire sniped angrily.

"And Neppy said you did that to before too," Plutia added once again.

The girl looked to her and blushed before saying," Sorry 'bout that, Noire, but ya got to believe me. I didn't do whatever happened on purpose, at least I don't think?"

"How do you not know!?" she demanded angrily. This girl was starting to increase her headache.

"Well, last thing I remember is falling out of the sky and landing on you again, I think I might have blacked out after that," said the girl Noire just could not label and thus settled for Ranma. _Wait, again!?_

"Yeah, I was kinda wondering about that. I'm a seasoned pro at falling like that, and I recall you doing even better than me the last time, what gives?" the idiot asked. Noire was now at full blown migraine.

"Yeah, try taking a fall like that the next time after a big fight," Ranma groused.

"Oh yeah, that would explain it! The last time that happened I was out and woke up with amnesia, I got better though!" Neptune commented. The still down on the ground girl just sighed. At least it was clear she was more sane than the other with that reaction," By the way, why haven't you gotten up yet?"

"I can't, I'm in pain and nothing below the neck is responding, also pretty sure I'm about to-" Ranma explained before slipping back into unconsciousness. Never mind, this girl had a completely different way of befuddling all sensibilities.

"Uh oh, that can't be good," the idiot chuckled nervously.

"You think!?" Noire snapped," We need to get her somewhere to be treated immediately!"

"Welp, guess we're of to Planeptune then, the Basilicom should have everything we need!" declared the girl that Noire was starting to wonder how she could possibly exist.

"Good idea Neppy!" Plutia agreed. Noire didn't have the mental fortitude to try and argue over the way the girl had just likely scammed her way into the Planeptune Basilicom.

* * *

Sometime after leaving the injured Ranma in medical care and after Noire had taken some medicine she claimed to need, three girls now sat at a table in Plutia's living area within the Basilicom. Neptune had been confused by odd things the entire time. The staff was clearly deferring to Plutie. Also, nothing looked right. Planeptune looked too much like it had back in the old days. If she recalled, she only had the Nep 1000 out at the time and hadn't moved onto its upgraded version let alone the first "classic" Planeptune console, the Nep Master. It all seemed a little weird to her, but it didn't really matter she had more important things to focus on.

"Okay, now that we have the immediate matter of your… fiancé being taken care of, now we need to talk about what to do about you two when she's better," the clone Noire started things off.

"For a clone, you're a pretty good copy. You even have Noire's straight to business attitude down pat!" Neptune declared as she nodded her head.

"Wow, she said you're a good clone Noire!" Plutie added.

"Plutia, I keep telling you not to be so gullible!" the convincing but totes not Nooire exclaimed before turning to back to her," And let's start with who you are!"

"Oh, that? I'm Neptune, the CPU of Planeptune!" Neptune declared as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, which of course it totally was," And you are totally a clone because I know EVERYTHING there's to know about my Nowa!"

"Aw, she even has a cute name for you Noire. Can I start calling you that?" Plutia interjected.

The clone blushed for a second as she snapped," N-no, especially if it's a name you got from HER!" She then returned to facing Neptune once more," And if you know so much about me, then prove it!"

"Okay~! But just so you know, you asked for it~!" Neptune sing songed," The real Noire is the CPU of Lastation."

"Wow," Plutie cut in.

"No I'm not!" the clone denied," Though I like the name…"

"She has a little sister named Uni," Neptune continued.

"You had a little sister? Why didn't tell me?" Plutie wondered.

"Because I don't!" the clone denied once again.

"And to top it all off, she's totally in love with Ranma!" Neptune finished.

"Aww" uttered Plutie cutely _. Hey, that almost rhymes, Cutie Plutie!_

"I don't!" the clone screamed vehemently.

"But you two were kissing earlier!" Cutie Plutie pointed out. _Nah, too many syllables again, Plutie it is then!_

"I told you I was being assaulted," the fake Noire continued.

"Neppy, why does she keep saying you're wrong? I'm confused," Plutie asked. _Yup, much better. Plus if I went around using cutie, people might think I like her more as a friend. Noire is enough for me!_

Neptune nodded to her line of thought before replying," Well of course she would. That's only true for the _real_ Noire, which means this one is a clone!"

"Wow, Neppy, you're so smart!" Plutie praised.

"No she isn't! I am NOT a clone! Now," Bellowed said clone.

"You totally are!" the purple haired protagonist of protagonists argued.

"Um-," Plutie tried to interject.

"Am not!" denied the clone.

"Are too-" Neptune declared.

"Stop it!" Yelled the third person in the conversation. A chill started to run down Neptune's spine as she liked at a frowning Plutie.

"Sh-shiver me timbers," Neptune exclaimed as the clone seemed to freeze up and go pale.

"No more fighting you two, or you'll make me… angry," Plutie declared," Now make up and get along!"

"Uh, I guess sorry?" Neptune offered as she raised her hand to the clone.

"Uh yeah, s-sorry," She agreed as she grasped the hand and shook a little forcefully before turning to the source of the serious spine tinglage," See, we're getting along."

Plutie frowned for a bit more. She didn't seemed convinced. Neptune then hugged onto the clone desperately," Yup, totally buddies now!"

Plutie smiled at this," Better!"

It was then that a knock sounded at the door. Plutie took note that no one seemed ready to move and turned to answer the door. As soon as she wasn't looking, Neptune released the clone and sat back down in her seat properly.

"Just one warning if you plan to hang around here," the clone whispered," Don't get her angry"

Neptune gulped and nodded in agreement. She didn't know why, but she was getting some seriously scary vibes for a second there.

"My lady, the patient is showing sign of recovery," announced a medical staff member with a bow once Plutie opened the door.

* * *

Not long after, Ranma finally woke up and was fully recovered. She was stretching when the door to the medical room opened to admit the two familiar figures and one new girl. Ranma couldn't help but feel that something wasn't quite right. She couldn't place what it was.

"Oh wow, you definitely recovered quickly!" Neptune greeted happily," That's our harem master for you!"

"Neptune," Ranma sighed," Can ya just stop calling me that?"

"Aw, but it's like totally your thing and all. I mean, come on, who else do I know that actually keeps getting into relationships at the drop of shoe?"

"Great, so you're some kind of woman womanizer," Noire added in a disgruntled manner. Something about her was completely wrong. It was like she didn't know her. It was not settling well with Ranma.

"Now look here, I've told ya before that all of those were against my will!" Ranma shot back at the currently irksome goddess. Seriously, she's fun to hang around sometimes, but it was just too hard to get the girl to listen to you.

"I think I know two CPUs you fled with me from would plead to differ!" Neptune reminded her. Ranma froze up at that and found herself glancing at Noire.

"Now, now, you two are engaged. Lovers shouldn't fight," interrupted the still unknown girl. This brought Ranma out of her stupor as it reminded her of what had happened.

"Uh uh, no way. I do not love her!" She declared in full vehemence as she turned angrily to the source of her building fury. She didn't even bother to take note of the other two's shocked expressions as she focused on Neptune," And you! Why didn't ya bother to warn anyone about that contract! Seriously!"

"But I did?" Neptune replied as she tilted her head to the side looking a little spaced out.

"Really!? A 'my fate will be decided today' is gonna tell me that I'll be facing your nation's greatest champion at a tournament and winning would get us hitched!?" Ranma berated. She was furious, and now that there was no current danger to the new fiancé, she was going to let the cause know just how much so.

"Wait, hold it right there! Are you seriously trying to tell me this nutcase is a CPU!? Great, both of you are nuts!" Noire declared in clear frustration.

"Wow, Neppy, are you sure you're engaged?" the other girl questioned.

"Yupperooni, though I guess I should've mentioned the whole thing being a contract thingie," Neptune answered. Ranma didn't care at this point as her attention was now drawn to someone that should be more important to her. There was something clearly wrong here.

"Yeah, that goofball is a CPU Noire, ya know that!" Ranma pointed out the obvious. Then a thought occurred to her," Wait… you're a clone, aren't ya."

To this statement, Neptune immediately started laughing and rolling on the floor. As for the clone? Noire, she was furious and having a hard time producing something intelligent as she began to bluster.

"Wow, Noire, even she says you're a clone," added the clearly out of it girl.

"Well, yeah. Now that I think about it, the Noire I know is a CPU and this one isn't-" That was when Ranma noticed something else and took on a fighting stance as she started to stretch out her senses. It finally clicked, the girl she had talked to was a CPU and Noire and Neptune weren't," Dammit! Looks like they figured out how to get the memories copied when they got to Neptune!"

This caused Neptune to fall silent as she stared in confusion. As for Noire, she stopped to look on in confusion. The mysterious goddess seemed a bit confused," Neppy's a clone?"

"Okay, what the heck is going on here, ya can drop the act! I know you're a CPU, where are the real ones!" Ranma demanded angrily as she drew on her energy. Something seemed off. It was still too sluggish. It didn't feel like it had the depth or fine control it once held. It also lacked the feeling of exhilaration… It was ki. She dropped her stance to stare at her hand as she summoned a ball of ki. It lacked the red hue that spoke of share energy," I'm human again?"

"Well duh, of course you'd be a human. What? Did you think you were a goddess too?" Noire commented snidely.

"Woah, you mean you finally found a way to be human again!?" Neptune asked in wonder," Wow, and we hadn't even found a way to send you back yet."

The CPU in the room looked confused," Are you not supposed to be human?"

Something was definitely up. Ranma was human again. She felt as if something was missing. She shook her head at the thought. Of course there was, she had actually gotten used to the feeling of the faith that flowed through her. It was now gone," Neptune, if you're the real one, how have you not noticed you lack share energy?"

Neptune blinked for a moment in confusion. Then she seemed alarmed as she suddenly started to flail about and try to go HDD. Everyone else in the room watched the spectacle. Eventually she gave up," What's going on here!?"

"I knew you weren't a CPU!" Noire declared smugly.

"Noire, I thought you two were friends," the CPU said with a frown. Ranma was actually taken aback by the chill that flooded the room. Noire quickly apologized and even went as far as hugging Neptune to show she was sincere.

After moment, Ranma decided to get things rolling," ok, so what's the deal here?"

"The 'deal' is you guys seem to think you're CPUs when you haven't even gotten a CPU memory," Noire pointed out. This led to a quick discussion of what this meant. The end line was obvious to Ranma. This had to be another world. One where CPUs weren't born but ascend instead. This meant that she had found a very valuable answer to her current situation. Different worlds had different rules. This meant that she shouldn't be a goddess back in her birth world unless she somehow met the requirements for it. Now she only had to find two more things. Her replacement back in Eden and a way back to Earth… _Make that three more things_. She thought with a frown after the explanation came to a close. She also needed to find a way back for Neptune and her replacement. After all, it was clear that the goddess requirements here were stricter. If she could get someone to ascend here without making a nation, she could convince them to take hers over instead. There was one little snag. Apparently ascension was a gamble. Either you ascended or you become a hideous monster. This meant something else. Ranma would have to hunt new goddesses.

As for Neptune, she found she was mortal and did not like the idea.

"Look, I got millions of fans back home who would be sad if I aged! I need to protect this body!" the fiancé went on vainly. Unfortunately there was no hurry. The CPU memory that was required for ascension was created by a CPU core. This was a very slow process, and thanks to the risk involved, there was little competition for them. For the time being, Plutia was allowing them to stay with her.

It was then that another thought occurred to her. She was human again.

"I need hot water!" Ranma demanded immediately. The others were taken back by the sudden declaration. It was Neptune who suddenly realized what was going on.

"Oh right! Now that you're human again, the curse should be back!" Neptune realized aloud.

"Curse!?" Noire asked pointedly.

"Why does she need water," Plutia asked a little confused.

"Just trust me, it'll be a cool surprise!" Neptune declared.

"Whatever, I'll be right back," Noire stated as she left for the kitchen. She came back a little bit later. Before she could say anything, Ranma was already taking the kettle away happily as she hummed a tune. She then poured the water on herself without ceremony…

"DAMMIT!" was the cry that could by heard echoing throughout the Basilicom.

"What's her problem?" Noire asked.

"Wow, that has to suck…" Neptune added

"Gee, ya think!" Ranma yelled angrily.

"Calm down a minute!" Noire tried to get in.

"How can I be calm when I'm still stuck like this after regaining my humanity!?" Ramna demanded.

"Is there something wrong with Ranma?" Plutia asked.

"Yup, Ranma was originally a guy until he got hit by some curse. Hot water used to turn him back until he became a CPU. Guess Ranma is all-" Neptune began to explain, shockingly astute.

"Don't you say it!" Ranma cut her fiancé off.

"Oh great, more of these insane stories," Noire commented in annoyance. Ranma was about to snap.

"Aw, don't get your panties on your head, this just means you got to go to that ink juice place and get another curse," Neptune pointed out. That was when Ranma came to a dead stop. If she had somehow been cured and was now… full that, then she could just get cursed again. There were several ways, after all. If the springs went back to normal, she could just find a world where they still were. Then use one of the numerous tricks out there to lock it. She calmed down as she now had a new plan in mind. She only needed to put up with it for a while longer and the HE would be "cured". Before she knew it, she pulled Neptune into a hug and kissed her.

"Wow, they really do love each other!" Plutia spoke from the side line.

This ended quickly as Ranma realized what she had done and immediately dropped Neptune to the ground. Said former goddess didn't have anything to say for once. It was then that Ranma hit up on the idea of heading out do some quests to blow off some steam.

* * *

As it would turn out, the others decided to follow and act as some sort of peanut gallery.

"Well, at least you seem more reasonable than your fiancé," Noire quipped," Not to mention far more dependable."

"Aww, this totally sucks! Why am I so weak!?" Neptune moaned as she found herself wiping goo off of her blade.

"Probably 'cause you got demoted?" Ranma added while trying to ignore Noire's fiancé jab.

"Aw, don't worry Neppy, I'm sure you'll get better!" Plutia tried to reassure.

"Though that does make me wonder, why are you still so strong when she was powered down if you both were CPUs… It makes it hard to believe your story," Noire stated flatly.

"Oh, that's easy peasy! Ranma was a god slaying, martial arts harem master before I even met her," Neptune chipped in. Plutia looked in awe to the martial artist in action.

'You know that only makes it more dubious, right?" Noire pointed out as she noted Ranma demolishing a few more monsters easily.

Ranma only grinned and decided to play a little game," As observant as usual, she never did more than take my word for it."

Noire only shook her head before replying," Should have known she was just as gullible as Plutia."

"Hey!" Neptune yelled out," Totally not cool Ranma! You totally nepped that Deity of Sin and everything!"

Noire arched her brow at this. Ranma sighed as she recalled that one," No point explainin' if ya won't believe it anyway."

Noire seemed a little indignant at the jab, but she soon brushed the matter aside and ignored it. She wasn't going to believe their story until she had proof. Ranma snorted and chuckled at this a little. Deep down though, she was just trying to hide the pain. She had only just recently come to know love in the romantic since and was now stuck in a different world with a copy of one of the girls she held dear. She shook her head at this and threw herself back into the fray alone against another group of monsters.

Noire did notice a small grimace on her red haired companion's face. She had to wonder at that, but she chose to ignore it for now. It just wouldn't do to push. Especially since, she still wasn't sure if she could trust these two. Neptune seemed to be too- well, her to be a part of anything evil. Ranma, on the other hand, was just too strong to overlook. Sure, she had told her little tale, but Noire could not bring herself to accept it as fact. It was too crazy to be true. As such, she had to keep her eye out for Ranma.

* * *

Later, they had finished several quests and ready to call it a day. They had gone back to the Basilicom. Currently, Noire was trying to explain a group called the Seven Sages for the second time. Honestly, Ranma had to agree with the basic rundown from Neptune, but it was clear that Noire was not satisfied.

"Ga-Thunk!" Cried a new voice as a strange little girl through the door open. She was blonde, wearing a pink dress, and had a pink bow in her hair decorated with a skull. She seemed to be scanning the room as she zeroed in on Ranma and Neptune," I've found you!"

"Woah! Who's this broad! Plutie, we have a visitor," Neptune noted.

"Speak of the tiny devil," Noire added.

"It's the meanie!" Plutia cried out.

"Ah, so you two got to be them," the girl noted she only glanced at Ranma. Ranma could not help but think she had been evaluated like a piece of meat. She quickly focused on Neptune. Once it was clear she was focused on her, everyone decided to let Neptune handle it. Soon enough they started arguing over each other being little girls be Neptune hit the other girl saying something about cat fight. The others just added commentary while Ranma just watched. She felt a little bad for the newcomer, but she couldn't decide how to react. The girl was clearly the aggressor, but Neptune did make it physical. Then things devolved into more arguing as the other two joined in. In the end, she introduced herself as Abnes of the seven sages before storming out after leaving some silly threats. Ranma had to agree that the sages seemed to be pathetic if this girl had been one of them. Though she knew from past experiences how deceptive these kinds of situations could be.

* * *

The following day, they came home from another day's worth of questing. Ranma was getting ready to slink away to be alone for a bit. It was starting to wear on her to spend so much time around Neptune and this world's Noire. She was finding it hard to get through to Neptune about their predicament. The girl seemed determined to not think about the engagement in any serious capacity. As for Noire, she was more or less a constant reminder of someone she wanted to see again. It was as she opened the door to slip out that she felt a bump.

"Waah!" Cried a tiny voice. It sounded familiar if just a bit higher pitched. Soon enough there was a small thump and clatter of things hitting the floor. Ranma looked down to see a younger, and smaller version of Histoire now lying on the floor atop a little book with AA batteries surrounding her," Owies."

"Wow, nice boobie bounce Ranma!" Neptune called out from behind as she rushed up to see what Ranma had hit. She gasped while Ranma had to sigh at the reminder of her current state. Neptune soon squealed as she picked up the little histoire in a hug," Holy floating gravy boats! Mini-Histy!"


End file.
